





LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

. 

Shelf. ii%£ 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 
















































































































"linin': 





































































































































* 















































i- 

























CRITICAL REYIEW 


OF 





m 



) 


FROM 


THE EARLIEST TIMES TO THE RETURN FROM 
BABYLONISH CAPTIVITY. 


VL 


W 


BY 


/ 


WILLIAM HOWES, 




JAN 20 1887, 


y> 


zi 


Of- 


wa! 




PUBLISHED FOR THE AUTHOR BY THE 
AMERICAN JOB PRESS, BALTIMORE. 


1886 






















Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1886, by 
WILLIAM HOWES, 

In the Office of ihe Librarian of Congress at Washington. 







PREFACE. 


In offering the following pages to the public, I act 
with the assurance that very many, at the present day, 
hold to the same, or nearly the same, views therein 
presented. I know, too, that insurmountable barriers 
seem to exist between the author’s views and those of 
many religious teachers of to-day; but I also know 
that, forty years ago, it was a great exception to the 
general rule to see a person who had lost faith in the 
high claims of the Hebrew records. But now, not 
only the millions who lay no claims to the doctrines 
of the old school of theology, but very many within 
the pale of the Christian Church, and in some cases 
high oflicials, deny that a great part of the early Bible 
history is more to be depended upon than the tradi¬ 
tions and early history of peoples, other than the- 
Jews, in corresponding periods. 


IV 


PREFACE . 


In writing the following pages, it has been the 
author’s endeavor to follow the Hebrew records cor¬ 
rectly, and to omit no essential part of the history; 
and he confidently hopes and believes that he has 
presented that history, to those of limited time for 
reading, in a clearer light and completer form than 
it has been presented heretofore, even though the 
reader may widely differ with the author on his com¬ 
ments and criticisms. 

WILLIAM HOWES. 


St. Margaret’s, Md., 

December $8, 1886. 


CONTENT'S. 


CHAPTER I. Page 

The Antediluvians, - 1 

• 

CHAPTER II. 

Noah and His Descendants,.7 

CHAPTER III. 

Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, .n 

CHAPTER IV 

Concerning the Exodus,.17 

CHAPTER V. 

The Exodus, - .. - 28 

CHAPTER VI. 

The Israelites Under Joshua,. 29 

CHAPTER VII. 

The Israelites Under Judges, 34 




CONTENTS . 


vi 

CHAPTER VIII Fage 

The Israelites Under Judges Continued, - - 43 

CHAPTER IX. 

Judges Concluded,.52 

CHAPTER X. 

Samuel and Saul,.59 

CHAPTER XL 

Samuel, Saul and David, - (37 

* 

CHAPTER XII. 

David Becomes King,.79 

CHAPTER XIII. 

David Concluded, ------- 90 

CHAPTER XIV. 

Solomon’s Reign,.- 103 

CHAPTER XV. 

The Kingdom of Israel, - - - - - - m 

CHAPTER XVI. 

The Kingdom of Israel Concluded, - - - 126 

CHAPTER XVII. 

The Kingdom of Judah, - - - - - 142 



CONTENTS. vii 

CHAPTER XVIII. Page 

Tite Kingdom of Judah Continued, - - - 149 

CHAPTER XIX. 

The Kingdom of Judah Concluded, - - - 163 

CHAPTER XX. 

The Captivity and Return to Jerusalem, - 174 

CHAPTER XXI. 

The Prophets, - 183 







A Critical Reiiew of .Jewish History, 


CHAPTER I. 


THE AHTEDILUVIAES. 

In writing a history of the Jews, it might be deemed 
proper to begin with the career of the first patriarch, 
Abraham. But as it is not the author’s intention to 
write a history of the Hebrew people, but simply to 
review and make comments on the narratives which 
that peculiar people wrote concerning their early 
career, and which have come down to us in books 
known as their sacred writings, it seems more proper 
to begin with their earliest accounts. 

These writings were held sacred by the Jews 
for many centuries preceeding the Christian era, and 
were believed by them to be the word of God; and 
as such, they were received by the early Christian 
church; and the same Christian church has held them 
till quite recently, as writings that could be doubted 
by no one but an infidel. But science has made such 
rapid strides within two centuries, and especially so 
for the past fifty years, that scholars generally, includ¬ 
ing many Christians, reject much that is found in the 
sacred writings, or try to explain many of the so-called 
miracles by natural causes, or by vague and uncertain 
theories that die with their authors. But the records 
still stand, and will outlive all the theories that may 
be invented to try to make Genesis and science agree. 
And judging from the failures in the past, we can 
2 




2 


THE ANTEDILUVIANS. 


only conclude, that, if science is founded on a true 
basis, Genesis must soon lose all claim to being a true 
record of any part of the world’s history. 

In Genesis, we first read an account of the creation 
of the world, all of which is now admitted to be 
inconsistent, and at variance with, all known laws of 
cause and effect. And the whole account, in its 
literal sense at least, is rejected now by Christian and 
skeptic alike. We read an account of the Garden of 
Eden, where God has prepared an earthly paradise for 
the creatures He has made, or is about to bring into 
existence, where sorrow and death are unknown. 
But by the inquisitiveness of Eve, the sole companion 
of Adam, who is induced to partake of the forbidden 
fruit, by the deception of the serpent, and who per¬ 
suades Adam to commit a like offense, man forfeits 
his fair abode, and is driven hence to earn his bread 
by the sweat of his brow. And henceforward man is 
in a fallen state, and sin and degredation are insepa¬ 
rable from his nature, until new life is offered, condi¬ 
tionally, four thousand years hence. 

In process of time, Eve becomes the mother of two 
sons, Cain and Abel. And when these grow up to be 
young men, they make their offerings to God, who is 
more pleased with the offering of Abel than with that 
of Cain. This creates a feeling of jealousy in Cain’s 
bosom, and he slays his brother Abel. God condemns 
Cain for the murder of his brother, and pronounces a 
curse on him and his posterity forever. The account 
of the Garden of Eden has always been a perplexing 
subject to modern Christian scholars, each of whom 
has located it in his own ideal spot, but each has failed 
to persuade the world of his great discovery; and the 
locality of the Garden is still a mystery, and I dare 
say will be for all time to come. Any further discus¬ 
sion on the subject would be a fruitless task, and its 
discovery should be left to some explorer who has 
nothing else to do. 

But Cain is cursed and goes out from the presence 
of his Maker to find a wife in the land of Hod. 


THE ANTEDILUVIANS. 


3 


Was this wife his sister? She could be no other; for . 
Adam had declared only a few years before, that Eve 
was the mother of all living. But why should Cain’s 
sister be off in the land of Nod, even if he had one? 
The human family at that time was very young, and 
we do not know that Eve gave birth to a third child 
for more than one hundred years after the birth of 
Cain, and that was a son. Now, in the name of truth, 
how could Cain find a wife in the land of Nod, or any 
where else, while his father and mother were the 
parents of all living, and they, as yet, having had but 
two children, both sons? The only possible wife 
would be his own sister; and when Eve exclaims at 
the birth of Seth, “God hath appointed me another 
seed instead of Abel whom Cain slew,” it implies 
that she had borne no other child since Abel, and 
certifies that Seth was the third son. The account of 
Cain’s generations is suddenly brought to a close, and 
we are left in ignorance in regard to them. The 
record closes with a speech from Lamech to his two 
wives, declaring that he had killed a young man. 
This speech may have been recorded to show that 
Cain’s descendants were murderers to the last; be 
this as it may, the descendants of Seth were but 
little better. 

The account now sweeps over many centuries, and 
we are left in ignorance in regard to the affairs of 
the world. All that we learn more about the human 
family, in the Antediluvian world, is that the sons of 
God married the daughters of men; that mighty 
men and giants existed; that the world was full of 
wickedness; that God was continually provoked and 
perplexed; that God repented that He had made 
man, and decided to destroy him from the face of the 
earth. To this I can only say, I wonder how the 
intelligent of this age can place any reliance on the 
narrative. 

We come now to an event, as recorded in Genesis, 
that seems to harmonize with scientific research no 
more than do the events that precede it. The lan- 


4 


THE ANTEDILUVIANS. 


guage used in the description of the flood is so simple 
and so plain, that we must receive it as a fact—a real 
fact in every particular, as recorded, or we must reject 
it altogether, and class it with the nomadic tent-tales 
of oriental lands. Preceding the events of the flood, 
as recorded, the moral condition of mankind was 
anything but satisfactory to God. Therefore, He 
concluded to destroy from the face of the earth, the 
ungovernable creatures He had brought into existence, 
by a universal deluge. 

Ho half way work was to be done in this event. 
Ho locality in particular was to be submerged, but the 
whole face of the earth. And not on man only was 
the destroying flood to fall, but also upon everything 
that breathed upon the face of the earth, except Hoah 
and his family and pairs of all kinds of animals. 

Hoah, being a just man, found grace in the sight of 
God, and was commanded to build an ark in which 
he and his family were to be saved, together with pairs 
of all creatures that existed, whereby the earth might 
be re-peopled and re-inhabited after the deluge. We 
may now ask, what means had Hoah for building such 
a monstrous craft ? Where did he find mechanics in 
those days equal to the task ? What inducements 
could he offer to those hundreds of men for the per¬ 
formance of such a prodigious work ? Whom could 
he find to visit every country and to collect together 
the indigenous creatures of every clime where the sun 
shone? Where did the waters come from to submerge 
the a highest mountain, and where did they recede to 
when dry land appeared ? It was not a great geolog¬ 
ical change; it all occured within one year. Mount 
Ararat was the highest mountain that the Jews had 
any knowledge of in early times, so they found it 
most convenient to make the ark rest there. Yes, 
they brought the ark to land on that mountain about 
2,348 years before Christ. Here let us pause a moment 
in all candor, and take a glance at the world. 

On Mount Ararat we behold the ark resting after 
its eventful voyage of some seven months. Within 


THE ANTEDILUVIANS. 


5 


its apartments exist now, all the creatures of the 
animal kingdom that have been saved from destruc¬ 
tion. Within that ark is every creature that lives 
and breathes. From that craft must come forth the 
parents of all creatures that are to inhabit the arctic 
regions and the torrid zone. From that ark are to 
come forth eight human beings of one race, of one 
language, of one family and necessarily of one color. 
From these eight human beings are to spring all the 
races and tribes of people, with all their varied 
physical characteristics of form and color, that are to 
be found on the surface of the earth centuries later. 
While we look upon that ark as it rests on Mount 
Ararat, the rest of the world is but a blank if Genesis 
is true. Gaze where you will on continent or island 
and no sign of life is there This condition, and this 
alone, must have been the case, a little over four 
thousand years ago, if Genesis is the word of God. 

But now let us turn from Genesis to secular history, 
and from Mount Ararat to view other parts of the 
world. If we travel south-eastward, we shall pass 
through country after country, thickly inhabited by 
people of varied physical characteristics and languages 
where mighty temples are already erected in honor of 
the different national deities, and for places of worship. 
We shall find the countries inhabited by all the 
varied types of creatures that live and breathe as 
freely as those we have left in the ark. Not only 
this, but we shall find these countries inhabited by 
people who claim an antiquity that reaches back into 
the past for thousands of years. After taking a 
glance at India with all her mighty temples, at her 
institutions, at books that are already ancient, let us 
pass on to the north-east, through tribe after tribe, 
until we reach that grand old country, China. There 
we shall find a dense population with institutions and 
language peculiar to that people, and older than the 
Adamic race. Let us retrace our steps, and repass 
Mount Ararat while Noah is yet in the ark in charge 
of the whole animal kingdom; and if we travel 
2 * 


THE ANTEDILUVIANS. 


6 


south-westward, and visit the valley of the Nile, we 
shall find kings sitting upon time-honored thrones, 
in countries where time-worn temples speak of long 
centuries of history in the already past. There, too, 
we shall behold descriptions of a long line of events, 
and paintings that will tell us that the negro lives, 
and has lived for long ages, having all the character¬ 
istics of form and color, that he will have four 
thousand years hence. We shall see an old empire 
th?„t bears all the marks of time-worn institutions 
that have passed through a growth of long centuries. 
We shall also be able to learn from these paintings and 
inscriptions, in and about the temples, that the 
countries, bordering on Egypt, are already peopled by 
tribes, having the same physical forms and colors, 
that will be found in the same localities in the 
nineteenth century of the Christian Era. 

This is not all; for we shall learn that these varied 
tribes, including the Egyptians, have lived in their 
respective localities for ages, including the year of the 
Noachian flood, undisturbed by any such deluge. 
Therefore, as intelligent beings of the nineteenth 
century, we must reject the story of the flood; and 
who shall condemn us for coming to such a conclusion? 


NOAH AND HIS DESCEND ANTS . 


7 


CHAPTER II. 


NOAH AND HIS DESCENDANTS. 

Tlie disembarkation of the precious cargo on Mount 
Ararat is left to our imagination; for no details are 
given. But we can readily see that it was no light 
undertaking. From the smallest creeping thing to 
the monstrous serpent, great caution was needed; 
and from the minutest quadruped to the ponderous 
elephant, great care and labor was required; and 
unless Noah had a large store of food on hand, it 
would not have been strange, if some of the carniv- 
erous animals had devoured some of the smaller 
creatures. But we must suppose that the animal 
kingdom was safely disembarked, and each pair went 
its way unmolested. After the deluge, Ctod made a 
covenant with Noah, and set His bow in the clouds, 
as a sign that the world should not again be destroyed 
by a flood. In this we see, that while the author of 
Genesis beheld the effect, he knew nothing about the 
cause. Shall we hold to the author of Genesis, and 
blind ourselves in the belief that the laws of nature 
did not work then as now ? or shall we follow science 
and say that the bow had spanned the heavens, 
whenever conditions were suited, since the morning 
when the first raindrops fell ? It might seem, that 
after Noah and his sons had witnessed such an awful 
event as the deluge, peace would reign in the family. 
But peace was foreign to the whole course of events, 
and one of the first acts of Noah, after the deluge,, 
was to drink too much wine and become intoxicated. 
While in this condition, Ham unwittingly saw his 
father, who, it appears, was naked at the time; and 



8 


NOAH AND IIIS DESCENDANTS, 


Ham told his brothers about it. And they, being 
advised of their father’s condition, were prepared to 
take measures to cover him without seeing him in his 
nude state. For this unfortunate discovery of Ham, 
his father, when he becomes sober, curses him and his 
descendants forever; and the world is again plunged 
into sin. Yet, we find that about one hundred and 
thirty-one years after the flood, Noah and all of his 
descendants are still together, and try to build a tower 
that shall reach to heaven. The world is still but 
one community and of one language. But God does 
not like their new movement of building a tower, and 
frustrates their design. He, therefore, comes down 
from the higher regions and confuses their language. 
We learn but little more about them for nearly three 
hundred years. But about two hundred and ninety- 
seven years after Noah and his family were all in 
one community, Abraham goes to Egypt and is 
entertained by a king who reigns over an old mon¬ 
archy, whose history leads back into the past for a 
thousand years, and whose institutions are in no wise 
akin to those of Abraham’s native country. Four 
years later, Abraham is back in Asia where he finds 
kings warring against kings who seem to be strangers 
to one another and ruling over countries far apart. 
And al though Ohederlaomer is confederate with Tidal, 
king of nations, who together with their confederates, 
subdue the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah and several 
others, and then return towards their own country, 
Abraham goes in pursuit of them with three hundred 
and eighteen of his own servants, subdues them, and 
rescues his nephew and a great amount of booty, and 
then returns and reaches his own camp in safety. 
Let us pause for a moment and ask in all candor, 
where did all of these nationalities come from? 
when were all of these kingdoms founded ? and how 
did the people become so estranged from one another, 
within so short a time from the flood, and while their 
earliest ancestors were yet alive ? The story is legend 
exaggerated, with no semblance of truth. Sodom 


NOAH AND HIS DESCENDANTS. 


9 


and Gomorrah are soon destroyed by God, after the 
preceding events, on account of the enormity of their 
sins, and only three of the inhabitants escape death. 
These are Lot and his two daughters, who, though 
saved on account of their superior virtues, drink 
deeply at the cup of sin immediately after their 
escape from destruction. The daughters give their 
father wine to drink until he becomes intoxicated, 
and each, in turn, lies with him; and he, in an 
unconscious condition, becomes the father of two 
sons by his own daughters. The account of such a 
crime, committed under such conditions, is revolting 
to every law, social and physical. The only excuse 
the daughters are made to offer for their crime, is that 
they feared that there was no man left in the world 
whereby they might preserve seed to their father. 
Their patience and conscience must have succumbed 
to temptation very easily, or these model young crea¬ 
tures would have waited a little while until they 
dared to venture on a short journey, which would 
have brought them into the midst of peaceable 
communities, that had been undisturbed by the 
destruction of the cities of the plain. 

But, the author of the narrative wished, at this 
stage of affairs, to create new nationalities that should 
be akin to, but forever at enmity with, the tribes to 
be introduced later on. And, in due time, we shall 
find that the Moabites and Ammonites prove to be no 
contemptible enemies of the Israelites. I feel that I 
cannot close this chapter without saying something 
about dates. The only source we have from which 
to form any idea about the time that elapsed from 
Adam to Abraham, is the genealogies before and 
after the flood. These genealogies are so straight¬ 
forward that they must be absolutely correct, or else 
without foundation. If the writer of Genesis was 
inspired, and received any part of it from God, he 
received all of it from the same source. If any part 
of it is true, the genealogies are true. If the gene¬ 
alogies are false, Genesis is a fiction. In regard to the 


10 


NO A U AND TITS DESCENDANTS. 


great age of the patriarchs, I can only say, all the 
researches of scientists, into the mysterious past, have 
failed to discover anything that discloses the fact that 
men ever lived to a much greater age than they do at 
the present time. But, on the contrary, we have 
abundant evidence that men have, for four thousand 
years and more, died in every part of the world, from 
Egypt to China, at about the same age that men die 
to-day. 

According to Genesis, those old patriarchs all 
passed away about the nineteenth century B. C. 
But while Genesis tells us that Abraham died in a 
good old age, and well stricken in years, at the age of 
one hundred and seventy-five, we learn from the same 
source, reckoning by the genealogies, that Eber, the 
fifth in descent from Noah, was still living at the age 
of four hundred years, and lived sixty-four years 
after Abraham had passed away. And Rue, the 
seventh from Noah, died, after Abraham, at the age 
of two hundred and thirty-nine years. 

From the foregoing we see what uncertainties we 
have to deal with in regard to the chronology of the 
times of the patriarchs. The Hebrew authors who 
wrote books on these early times, give us no clue to the 
ages in which the events they wrote about took place, 
except as we can glean them from the genealogies 
before and after the flood. But these genealogies 
are among the greatest uncertainties of traditional 
history. Therefore, we must grope our way, for ages, 
until the light of secular history helps us to dispel 
the darkness, and we find the Jewish people a real 
living nation, battling for existence among the nations 
of the earth. 


ABRAHAM , ISAAC AMD JACOB. 


11 


CHAPTER III. 


ABRAHAM, ISAAC AND JACOB. 

Genesis throws no light on the history of the world 
from the confusion of languages at Babel to the time 
of Abraham, a period of about three hundred years. 
We are told that Abraham was the son of Terah, a 
native of IJr, a locality somewhere above the con¬ 
fluence of the Tigris and Euphrates. There are many 
traditions about Terah and his family, all of which 
are worthless, of course. But it appears that Abraham 
was a worshipper of the one true God, while all his 
relatives were idolators. Being chosen of God, we 
may suppose that he had superior virtues; and 
spiritually, he must have stood far above his family 
and race to be the one exalted above all others. But 
we find him at times prevaricating and using a good 
degree of deception; and to say the least, he was of a 
very suspicious nature; and often mistrusted men in 
high positions, who seem to have been more honorable 
than Abraham might have been in their places. On 
various occasions, he represented his wife as being his 
sister, to deceive his hosts; but this was really the case, 
and it adds to his faults the crime of living in open 
incest with his sister, a crime which was looked upon 
with horrible disgust in many ancient nations, and 
which is made to appear so awfully appalling, when 
charged to a reckless Roman Emperor. 

But if it be true that such persons as Abraham and 
Sarah ever lived, and that they were the parents of 
the Israelites, it follows that the Jewish people had 
their origin in an incestuous union of brother and 
sister. But the God of Abraham seems to have 



12 


ABRAHAM , ISAAC AAZ> JACOB. 


tolerated many things, in those days, that the God of 
nations will not countenance to-day. He blessed 
Ishmael, Abraham’s illegitimate son, and made him 
the father of twelve nations; He blessed Abraham 
with many children by many concubines. 

Down to the time of Christ the Jews worshipped 
the God of _Abraham as they do at the present time, 
but before Christ, God had never given them a law 
forbidding them to marry more than one wife; nor 
forbidding them to keep concubines for their sensual 
pleasures. The Jews had received no revelation from 
God for centuries preceding the Christian era, hut, 
within the mean time, they had learned, from the 
Gentile world, that the marriage tie was sacred, 
and that it was unlawful to have more than one wife 
at a time. Abraham finally departed this life, leaving 
a heterogeneous mass of children, who became the 
parents of tribes that were to people a great part of the 
land of Canaan and adjacent countries, and who, in 
the course of time, were to war with one another, and, 
finally, to meet in bitterest strife, on the return of the 
descendants of Jacob from Egypt. 

Of the swarms of children, legitimate and illegi¬ 
timate, that Abraham left at his demise, Isaac was 
made sole heir to the promised inheritance. The rest, 
though natural children of Abraham, were destined to 
become the parents of heathen tribes, who, like the 
Gentile world, were to worship other gods. 

Isaac procured a wife from among his father’s 
relatives, whose name was Rebekah, and who, at the 
time, seems to have been industrious and honest; but 
who, after giving birth to a pair of twin boys, became 
the very type of deception and fraud. Jacob, the last 
born of the two, became his mother’s favorite; and 
she at once began to lay plans to defraud Esau of 
his birtli-right, and to procure the father’s blessing 
for her favorite son. She succeeded in her plans, and 
enabled her favorite son to procure, by unmitigated 
lies, the blessing that should have fallen on the head 
of a truer man, his brother Esau. 


ABRAHAM , ISAAC AND JACOB. 


13 


Strange it is to think of, in this enlightened age of 
the nineteenth century, that a blessing thus obtained 
by deception, fraud and lies, should be of any avail. 
A promise thus obtained, at the present time, would 
be counted worthless in the sight of God, and by the 
laws of nations. Esau was discarded and became the 
father of a heathen people, but Jacob, by fraud and 
lies, became the sole heir to God’s promises. 

Thus far, in Bible History, we have read of no 
family that preserved peace through two successive 
generations, even while under the direct guidance of 
their God, And, with such a beginning, we can 
scarcely look for anything better in the immediate 
future. Jacob was made sole heir to God’s promise 
to Abraham, that the latter should be th*e father of 
His chosen people, who should become a great nation, 
and, finally, possess the land of Canaan. He feared 
his brother Esau and started on a journey to elude his 
brother’s vengeance, and to find his father’s kindred, 
among whom he hoped to procure a wife. Jacob 
succeeded in making a bargain with his uncle Laban 
for his youngest and fairest daughter, for whom Jacob 
agreed to serve his uncle seven years. He was faithful 
to his agreement, and at the end of the time he 
demanded the fair Rachel in marriage. But in the 
morning, after the consummation of the marriage tie, 
Jacob woke up to find that the elder, weak-eyed sister, 
Leah, had been palmed off on him in place of the fair 
one. How Jacob was thus deceived we are not told, 
but the fraud must have been a severe trial to him. 
Discouraging as it might seem, Jacob worked seven 
years longer for Rachel, and finally gained her. He 
now found himself possessed of two wives and their two 
maids, all of whom brought him forth sons, who, in 
time, became the fathers of the twelve tribes of Israel. 
After serving fourteen years for his wives, Jacob served 
Laban six years longer for a certain share in his flocks. 
In the twenty years that Jacob served Laban, decep¬ 
tion is played by both parties. Laban deceived Jacob 
in regard to his daughters, and the latter, by deception, 
3 


14 


ABRAHAM , ISAAC AND JACOB. 


got the best part of his uncle’s flocks. And finally, 
Jacob stealthily left Laban, taking with him the 
flocks which, to say the least, were raised in a very 
unfair manner. And in addition to this, his wives 
stole their father’s images and gods and carried them 
away with them; and, by deception, frustrated their 
father’s search for them when he overtook them on 
their journey. During all this time the blessings of 
Isaac were shielding Jacob and his family, and the 
spirit of God was guiding the patriarch in all of his 
undertakings. It is not my object to follow the story 
and speak of Jacob’s meeting with his brother Esau, 
nor of his relations with Sheehem and Hamor; but to 
pass over the journey as rapidly as possible until 
we follow the family to Egypt. Their relatives are 
soon left behind forever as friends, to be met, a 
few centuries later, sword in hand, when Jacob’s 
descendants return from Egypt, under Moses, to take 
possession of the land of Canaan. Jacob has twelve 
sons, one of whom is a dreamer. He tells two of his 
dreams to his brothers, who are disgusted with him, 
and plan to get rid of him by murder or otherwise; 
and who, finally, sell him to their cousins, the 
Ishmaelites, who are on their way to Egypt, to which 
country they take him and sell him to Potiphar, an 
officer of Pharaoh. The story thus begins like a 
romance, and continues so to the end. Joseph is 
young and probably handsome; his master’s wife falls 
in love with him and tries to lead him into sin. But 
Joseph, being a just man, shrinks from her evil 
designs. But his mistress, chagrined at her disap¬ 
pointment, seeks revenge by accusing Joseph, to her 
lord, of the evil design that she alone was guilty of. 

Joseph is cast into prison, but fortune soon smiles 
upon his life. Pie has two fellow prisoners who 
dream, and Joseph interprets their dreams correctly. 
One of the dreamers is put to death, the other is 
restored to favor and reinstated in Pharoah’s palace. 
Within a short time, the king has a dream, but no 
one of his subjects can interpret it. The servant 


ABRAHAM , ISAAC AND JACOB. 


15 


restored to favor, remembers Joseph and speaks a good 
word for him to the king, as he promised to do. 
Joseph is brought before Pharoah and interprets the 
dream that has so much troubled the latter. The 
interpretation foretells seven years of plenty, to be 
followed by seven years of dearth in Egypt and other 
countries. A wise man is needed to watch over the 
products and store them up in the seven years ,pf 
plenty, so as to provide for the seven years of scarcity. 
The king appoints Joseph to fill this important office, 
and he becomes the almost absolute ruler of Egypt. 
To carry out the story, which is very beautiful, a 
famine must also occur in Canaan, where his hither 
and brothers still live. This is the case; and in due 
time, Jacob, learning that corn can be procured in 
Egypt, sends ten of his sons to purchase some. They 
go on their errand and bow down to the great ruler of 
the stores, little thinking who he is. He inquires 
about their father and his family, and charges them 
what to do in order to see his face again. The story 
is familiar to every one, and it is not in the design of 
this book to repeat it. Jacob and his family remained 
and died in Egypt, and in course of time, Jacob’s 
descendants became the servants of the Egyptians. 
Their sojourn in Egypt, according to the narrative, 
was over four hundred years, ending at the beginning 
of the fifteenth century B. C. at which time, they left 
Egypt under the leadership of Moses. The story, so 
far as it relates to Jacob and his sons, is very beautiful, 
and will be read to the latest times, with delight by 
every one; but there is not the least shade of history 
to corroborate it, nor to show that such a people ever 
lived in Egypt, as bondsmen or otherwise. 

During those ages, the Egyptians kept a pretty 
correct account of their national affairs, but I am not 
aware that a character exists on any of their monu¬ 
ments, that even implies that such a people ever 
lived in that country. The Jewish narrative tells us 
that Joseph was ruler of the stores over all Egypt. 
That he was avaricious we know; for, during the 


16 


ABRAHAM , ISAAC AND JACOB. 


famine, he exacted all the money and cattle that the 
people possessed in exchange for food; and when 
these were exhausted, he bought in for the king, all 
the land belonging to the people, except that possessed 
by the priests, from one end of Egypt to the other; 
and when all of these things proved insufficient to 
satisfy his avarice, he bought even the people them¬ 
selves, so that they became the servants or slaves of 
the king. This was indeed buying a nation by the 
wholesale. But the account is so overdrawn that it 
becomes worthless. Were the story true, who could 
blame the Egyptians, when they recovered from their 
oppressed condition, from making bondsmen of the 
Hebrews, relatives of such an extortionate ruler ? 

Joseph showed no justice, and very little wisdom 
in his government. The people had raised the food 
during the seven years of plenty, and they were the 
rightful owners of it; and during the years of scarcity 
it was unjust in Joseph to buy them, body and soul, 
to satisfy his own, or the king’s greed. A wise ruler 
would have directed, not crushed the people. I speak 
of these things, not because I believe they ever 
occurred, but to show how little wisdom the Jewish 
writers had about justice in government when the 
narrative was written. 




CONCERNING THE EXODUS. 


17 


CHAPTER IV. 

\ v —~ 

CONCERNING THE EXODUS. 

In regard to the length of time that the Jews lived 
in Egypt, no one seems to he fully satisfied. The 
date of the exodus is equally in the dark; for the 
Jews had different traditions in regard to it, and 
modern scholars differ more than two hundred years 
on the subject. But if the genealogies in Genesis are 
correct we have the almost exact date, and know that 
the exodus began about 1491 B. C. And if the 
narrative is true we know that the sojourn in Egypt 
was four hundred and thirty years. For it not only 
tells us so, but it repeats it. But whatever the time 
might have been that the Jews lived in Egypt, the 
history of that country ought to have known some¬ 
thing about it, for in the latter part of the time the 
Jews must have numbered over three millions of souls. 

We read in the narrative that the able-bodied men, 
over thirty years old, numbered over six hundred 
thousand at the exodus, and to say that such a mass 
of people could live within the bounds of a small 
country, for generations, and then all leave it in one 
day, with immense herds of cattle, and flocks of sheep, 
and goats, and droves of asses, besides a multitude 
of mixed people with all their concomitants, is to say 
what is as absurd as unreasonable, and as unreason¬ 
able as false. But, still more, Egypt had, within a 
few days, been visited, from one end to the other, by 
plagues of horror upon horror, and by death in every 
family. Add to all this misery the destruction of 
Pharoah and his entire army in the Red Sea, a few 
days later, and, surely, the Egyptian historians had 
enough to write about for a generation to come. 

3 * 



18 


CONCERNING THE EXODUS. 


But, strange to say, not a page, not a sentence, not 
a word, nay, not a mark has ever been found on 
Egyptian monuments, nor in Egyptian history, that 
so much as hints that such events ever occurred. 
Then, what conclusion can we come to other than that 
the whole story is a myth and a fit companion for all 
that precedes it in Genesis? But, while we find 
nothing, thus far, to corroborate the Jewish accout of 
themselves or of others, we find enough, in Egyptian 
history, to disprove it to any one who is not so pre¬ 
judiced by early education that he will not give the 
subject a candid investigation, and weigh possibilities 
and probabilities, in this as in other histories of 
ancient nations. According to Jewish traditions and 
sacred writings, that people sojourned in Egypt 
several hundred years, some time between two thorn 
sand years B. 0. and thirteen hundred B. C. But 
according to the Mosaic account, as it has come to us, 
the Israelites dwelt in that country four hundred and 
thirty years, and the exodus began in the year fourteen 
hundred and ninety-one B. 0. It is well now to ask, 
what do we know about Egyptian history during the 
above-named period ? First, about two thousand and 
eighty years B. C., the country being divided into five 
separate kingdoms, lower Egypt was invaded by a 
powerful enemy called Hykros, or shepherds, who 
destroyed the Memphite kingdom and exterminated 
the male population and made slaves of the women 
and children. These invaders soon obtained complete 
possession of nearly all of lower Egypt and laid waste 
a great portion of the temples and monuments. 
Secondly, these invaders established two or three 
dynasties of kings who reigned over the most of lower 
Egypt for about five hundred years. But about the 
time that the invaders established their rule in lower 
Egypt, an independent dynasty of native kings was 
established in the Delta, who maintained their inde¬ 
pendence during the entire sway of the shepherds. 
In about nineteen hundred B. C. the shepherds con¬ 
quered nearly all of Egypt, driving the nations out of 


CONCERNING THE EXODUS. 


19 


the upper country; who, however, appear to have 
returned after a short time, and the native kings 
became tributary to the shepherds, until the latter 
were driven out of Egypt by a general uprising of 
the original inhabitants, headed by Amopis, king of 
the Thebaid, in about fifteen hundred and twenty- 
five B. C. 

The last three hundred years of the shepherd rule 
was the darkest period of Egyptian history. They 
left no monuments, and their kings are not known to 
us. They were a nomadic people, and probably knew 
nothing about w r riting or other arts. They, probably, 
came from some part of Arabia, and broke in upon 
Egypt, as hordes of barbarians did, in later times, 
upon the Roman empire. We thus see that, during 
the period that the Mosaic account tells us that the 
Hebrews were held in bondage by the Egyptians, 
the Egyptians were themselves enslaved in their own 
country by the iron hand of a terrible invader. 
Furthermore, the Mosaic account tells us that the 
Israelites were liberated from Egypt in 1491 B. 0. by 
the direct interposition of God, who destroyed the 
Egyptians at that time, while Egyptian history tells 
ns that a new and powerful dynasty of kings was 
established about 1525 B. C., who drove out the 
invaders, united all Egypt under one king, for the 
first time in many centuries, and inaugurated an era 
of jorosperity, such as Egypt had never known before, 
and which lasted for several hundred years. No 
matter at what date scholars may fix the records, the 
shepherd invaders were the dominant power at the 
time that it is said Joseph was carried into Egypt; 
and he could not have come in contact with any 
of the Pharoahs, nor have been a ruler under one 
of them. 

The Hebrew records tell us nothing about Egypt 
being ruled by a horde of invaders at any time, but 
speak of the Pharoahs as a line of kings who ruled 
when Abraham first went to that country, and who 
continued to rule, without interruption, for centuries 
after the date of the exodus. 


20 


CONCERNING THE EXODUS. 


To view the Hebrew records aside from the sacred 
character attached to them, we should pronounce the 
whole story of the bondage a myth; and to pronounce 
the story a myth under such a view, would be to strip 
the records of their trustworthy character. 

But, it may be asked, whence came the Jews, and 
how did their traditions originate? were they not 
different from any other people ? I answer no. How 
could they have been ? why should they have been ? 

Abraham, their legendary father, was one of a large 
family. He married his half sister, who, in course of 
time, brought him forth a son, whom they named 
Isaac. In years afterwards, Isaac married his own 
cousin, who was one of another large family; and in 
time, she gave birth to a pair of twin boys, the younger 
of which, was chosen to continue the line of God’s 
people. And he, Jacob, doubling on the example of 
his father, married two of his own cousins, and sisters 
to each other. Up to that time, it will be seen, the 
three old patriarchs united pretty closely with the 
blood of their own families. But a divergence at this 
period took place in their family. Twelve sons were 
evidently required, and if Leah and Rachael could not 
bring them forth, it was necessary to get help. There¬ 
fore, Leah’s and Rachel’s handmaids bare to Jacob, 
four of the twelve. How, why should these twelve' 
sons have had features and other characteristics 
different from the rest of the human family ? Indeed, 
the mothers of eight of them were sisters to each 
other, and own cousins to their liege lord; and there 
ought to have been a striking resemblance in the 
eight. But what of the other four ? who were these 
handmaids ? Surely they were not close relatives of 
Jacob and his wives. And, if human nature was the 
same then as it is now, the sons would be as likely to 
have the impress of their mothers’ families as of their 
fathers’ family. And surely we have no reason to 
suppose that Jacob’s family was an exception in the 
world, and bore features differing from the rest of the 
human race. But, still more, Jacob’s sons picked up 


GONGEBNING THE EXODUS. 


21 


wives and concubines wherever they happened to be; 
and so did their posterity to the latest times of their 
nationality; and they were the same kind of people, 
and nothing but the same kind of people, as the 
tribes they mixed with. 

After Abraham’s first wife died, he married again, 
and left a number of children by his second wife. He 
also had a number of children by concubines, who, 
together with those by his second wife, settled in 
various localities in and about Canaan; and when 
we add to these the twelve families of the Isbmaelites, 
who descended from his (Abraham’s) son by his 
Egyptian concubine, we find the same family blood 
circulating pretty freely on every side. Once more, 
Lot, who was Abraham’s nephew, had two daughters 
who escaped with him from Sodom, and each of these 
daughters had a son by her father; and these sons 
became the fathers of children who built up the 
nationalities of Moabites and Ammonites, who, of 
course, might be expected to have the same general 
characteristics as the Jews. Therefore, look at these 
tribes in any light that you may, the Jews, the Ish- 
maelites, the Moabites, the Ammonites, the Edomites 
and all the surrounding tribes, by descent and inter¬ 
marriage, were one and the same kind of people. 
But the Jews, as we know them, having kept apart 
from the rest of the world, on account of customs 
and religion, for about two thousand years, present a 
purer type of those ancient tribes than does any other 
body of their descendants. We now seek an answer to 
the question, where did the Jewish tribes originate? 
I answer, we cannot go beyond their own traditions. 
But this much we know: their traditions locate their 
ancestors in the land of Canaan, and there we find 
the tribes first in history. And there, and around 
there, we find all the other tribes with whom the 
Jews had relations, in peace and war, from the earliest 
times to their fall under the power of the Boman 
empire. 

Nearly all of these peoples, from the Euphrates to 


22 


CONCERNING THE EXODUS. 


the borders of Egypt, were nomadic in the earlier ages, 
and probably had but few places of fixed habitation; 
and wandered about as necessity compelled, or con¬ 
venience invited them. And as letters were unknown 
to them, as to all other peoples in the earlier ages, 
and monuments and temples were not built by any of 
them as memorials of their past, their formation 
into tribes and the origin of their customs and 
religious rites, were as much lost to them when we 
find them in history, as was the original condition of 
the Greeks to that people. Whatever was the primitive 
condition of the Jews it was lost to them; for the 
story of their abode in Egypt for more than four 
hundred years, and their strange exodus has not a 
shade of history to sustain it; and that, together with 
many of their traditions under Judges, belong to 
legend and not to history. 

We find the Jews, at the first dawn of history, in 
Canaan; and there their traditions placed them for 
many preceding centuries. And, as the tradition in 
regard to their departure from Egypt to Canaan is 
incompatible with known history, it is safe to con¬ 
clude that the Jews originated as a tribe in Syria, and 
gradually spread southward in Canaan, and finally 
became the dominant power, centering in the vicinity 
of Jerusalem. Perhaps, in remote ages, some of them 
wandered down to the borders of Egypt and suffered 
at the hands of the Egyptians, and in later times the 
event was magnified and became the foundation of 
the story about the bondage in Egypt and exodus 
from that country. Taking this view, we can see a 
slight foundation for the Jewish tradition, while the 
event would not be of sufficient importance to be 
noticed in Egyptian history. 


THE EXODUS. 


23 


CHAPTER V. 

\ _ 


THE EXODUS. 

I will now resume the thread of the Mosaic narra¬ 
tive and follow the Hebrews by rapid strides until we 
find them nearing the promised land. I will not 
detain the reader a moment in Egypt to ponder on 
the miracles, said to have been worked by Moses in 
that land; nor will I stop at the Red Sea to witness 
Pharoah and his army submerged by the remorseless 
waves. Neither will I detain the reader at the foot 
of Mount Sinai, to witness the wranglings of the 
Hebrews and their God; nor to take notice of their 
petty wars, their thirst and hunger, their trouble 
with the serpents, their continued dissatisfactions 
and rebellions. We will suppose that we have fol¬ 
lowed the tribes in all their wanderings of forty years, 
and have found them encamped at the outskirts of 
the promised land. 

Here Balaam, another prophet, is introduced, who, 
in journeying on his way to his friend, Balak, king of 
Moab, is met by an angel in the way. Balaam's ass 
sees the angel before his master does and refuses to 
go. A dispute arises between the ass and his master. 
The ass speaks to Balaam and pleads for mercy. 
The angel then reveals himself to Balaam and tells 
him what to do. Balaam soon meets Balak, spins a 
parable, blesses Israel and then returns to his own 
place, but is finally slain by the swords of Israel, in 
their war with the Midianites. Balaam is pictured 
as a strange man. He seemed to be very familiar 
with the Hebrew God and dared not act contrary to 
His commands, when on his way to see Balak; but 



24 


THE EXODUS. 


when the crisis came he fought on the side of the 
Midianites against Israel and was slain in battle. He 
prophesied victory to the Israelites and then took 
sides where he had. foretold all would be lost. He is 
portrayed as possessing three personalties combined in 
one—a prophet, a hero and a fool. But let me ask, 
who recorded all this that passed between Balaam, 
Balak and the other parties concerned? Balaam’s 
ass is made to speak to his master, and then the angel 
reveals himself with a drawn sword and tells Balaam 
what the dire consequences would have been to him 
had he gone forward. Balaam meets Balak and a 
long dialogue ensues. The former spins out a long 
parable to the latter and offers sacrifices for him. 
These things come to us as sacred truths, and are 
fully believed by many learned men of this enlight¬ 
ened age. But who recorded these sayings ? Surely 
no one will contend that the Moabites and Midianites 
were familiar with letters at that early age. And 
even if the Jews could have used the pen as well as 
they could five or six centuries later, they could have 
recorded what ocurred between Balaam and the other 
parties only from hearing its rehearsal. But as war 
was soon waged by the Israelites against the Moabites 
and Midianites, both of which parties, we are told, 
were utterly destroyed, together with their kings and 
the prophet Balaam, I can conceive of no earthly 
means left whereby such important events could be 
communicated to the Jews or anybody else. The 
legend about Balaam and his ass is no~ worse than 
many of its companions; but had the Jewish writers, 
in later days, been more intelligent and less credulous, 
they would have rejected it, and not have given it 
place in their sacred books. 

We come now to the account of an event in Jewish 
history, the truth of which must tax the credulity of 
any one, after taking a candid view of it in all its 
bearings. The Israelites have already reached the 
borders of the promised land. Moses is not only 
nearing the end of his journey from Egypt to Canaan, 


THE EXODUS. 


25 


but also tbe end of his earthly career. His God has 
told him that his days are numbered, and that He 
will soon call him away to be numbered with his 
fathers. Moses has been a faithful servant and has 
lead some millions of people with all their flocks and 
herds through dreary deserts for forty years. When 
he started with them from Egypt, his fighting men 
numbered six hundred and three thousand, five hun¬ 
dred and fifty. And now that they are camping on 
the borders of the promised land, the fighting men 
number six hundred and one thousand, seven hundred 
and thirty. Yet, this vast company of able bodied 
men with their families, and a multitude of mixed 
people, numbering in all, at least, four millions of 
souls, had been fed on manna and cpiails, the former 
sent from heaven daily (Sundays excepted) for nearly 
forty years. But we are not told how the flocks and 
herds were fed and watered on the dreary sands for 
so long a time. But, no matter, they are through 
now, and will soon be in the midst of plenty. The 
clash of arms will soon be heard, for Moses is about 
to send a detachment of his vast army against the 
Midians and Moabites. The Midianites are to be 
spoiled; and twelve thousand chosen men are sent 
against them, and they do their work with a terrible 
hand. They lay the country waste, burn the cities, 
slay all the males, except the babies, and take for 
prey all that is of any value to themselves. Multi¬ 
tudes of cattle and sheep, and many thousand of 
women and children, help to make up the booty. 
Moses and his brother, Aaron, the high priest, go and 
meet the blood-stained warriors outside the camp, to 
see if the work of slaughter has been complete. Their 
prophetic and priestly eyes rest upon the hundreds of 
thousands of animals that the soldiers have brought 
with them; and upon the gold, the silver, the brass, 
the iron, the tin, the lead and other things of value 
that the warriors have brought in abundance, and are 
well pleased with that part of the booty. But now 
the old prophet’s eyes flash fire. He sees a multitude 
4 


26 


THE EXODUS. 


of women, maidens and infants, heart broken and 
weary of limb, weeping and lamenting* for their dear 
ones, clad in garments stained by the blood of their 
fathers, brothers, husbands and sons, who have been 
ruthlessly slain while trying to protect their homes 
and families against the ravages of merciless invaders, 
who can offer no excuse for their cruelties, but the 
poor pretence that God has given them the land; 
except, perhaps, the still poorer pretext that some of 
the Midianish women have been leading some of the 
Jews into unchaste conduct. Behold the poor captives 
as they stand under the gaze of the old prophet; clad 
in blood-stained garments covered with dust, weary 
in limb and bleeding at heart, they present a picture 
that might call forth pity from the most degenerate 
of earth, but which excites no pity in Moses. The 
anger that fires up this meekest of men, shows that 
Moses is wroth because the mothers and some of the 
male infants of the Midianites have been spared from 
the sword. Forty years of success and present pros¬ 
perity have bereft the old prophet of every shade of 
pity, and as he stands on the plains of Moab, by the 
side of his sanctified brother, he gives command to 
his blood-stained soldiers to slay every mother and 
every male child that are among the captives; but to 
save alive every female who has not known man 
(thirty-two thousand in all) for their own sensual 
purposes. Jew or Christian, palliate such a crime 
against God’s created beings as you may, it still stands 
boldly out as a crime too black and diabolical in its 
conception, and too remorseless in its execution, to 
have received the sanction of that Being of infinite 
wisdom, goodness and power, whom the intelligent of 
this enlightened age are pleased to acknowledge and 
worship as their God. Let us now take another view 
of this great event in the last days of the old prophet, 
and although we shall find it less cruel, we shall find 
it more ridiculous. We are told that the booty, being 
the rest of the prey that the men of war had caught, 
was six hundred and seventy-five thousand sheep, 


THE EXODUS. 


27 


seventy-two thousand beeves and sixty-one thousand 
asses, making in all, eight hundred and eight thou¬ 
sand animals that had been reared and supported on 
a small tract of country bordering on the Arabian 
desert. According to the number of females that the 
Jews saved alive, the Midianites must have numbered 
about one hundred and thirty-five thousand persons 
at the time of the invasion; and this being the case, 
each individual man, woman and child, in city and 
country, represented at least, six animals. This, 
indeed, would show a very prosperous and peaceful 
community, of good habits and great industry; far 
too good to be slain in their peaceful, happy homes, 
by blood-thirsty warriors, though Moses, the meekest 
man in the world, did command them. The writer of 
the narrative speaks of the above blood-curdling event 
without a blush, without a word of pity; and relates 
how the prey was divided among the tribes, with the 
same coolness; and then closes the account by telling 
us that not a man that went out to the war was lacking 
and that each man brought an oblation to Aaron, the 
priest, for the Lord, of jewels that he had taken from 
his slain victims, and offered it as an atonement for 
his soul. 

Thus we read that the Moabites and Midianites 
were slain and their country laid in ruins; but we 
feel a relif when we read that in later generations 
the Moabites and Midianites still live, and often, 
for long periods, rule over the Israelites with an iron 
hand; and in course of time, Ruth, a Moabitish 
woman, becomes the wife of Boaz, and the great 
grandmother of King David. Christ, too, we are 
told, was of the same family and of the thirtieth 
generation from Ruth. After the destruction of the 
Moabites and Midianites, Moses went up Mount Nebo 
and climbed to the top of Pisca; from which eleva¬ 
tion God showed him the Promised Land. But, at the 
same time, He told him that he should not cross 
over Jordan, for his days were numbered. The old 
prophet died and God buried him in a valley in 
the plains of Moab, but no man ever knew where. 


28 


THE EXODUS. 


We are told that at the time of the birth of Moses 
Pharoah caused the male offspring of the Hebrews to 
be put to death in infancy, but Moses’ mother, seeing 
that he was a goodly child, contrived a means whereby 
he might be saved. She succeeded and the child was 
adopted by Pharoah’s daughter. The course she 
pursued to save her child implies that but few of the 
Hebrew male children were spared. Yet we find, 
after Moses reached manhood, he had a brother, 
Aaron, only two years younger than himself; and 
during the exodus there seemed to be no lack of men 
of any particular age from that of Moses down. 
Therefore, allowing that the Hebrews lived in Egypt 
at Moses’s birth, the story is not true in regard to the 
destruction of the male infants. In regard to Moses’ 
character and to his being the “ meekest man in the 
world, we are compelled to say he began his career by 
killing an Egyptian and closed it by the slaughter of 
thousands of captive mothers and their innocent 
babes. Such a prophet we can well afford to lose 
sight of and leave him in his unknown grave. And 
we do not wonder that the tribes he lead continually 
rebelled against his authority and doubted the God 
whom he claimed to be guided by in such cruelties. 
The miracles wrought in Egypt, the crossing the Red 
Sea, the destruction of Pharoah’s army, the thunder - 
ings and lightnings at Mount Sinai, and the daily 
supply of manna for forty years, have not been enough 
to convince even the credulous Jews, up to the time 
that they reach the Jordan, that it is the infinite God 
of the universe that is leading them to the promised 
inheritance. And henceforward throughout all their 
changes of government and vicissitudes of fortune 
they doubt and rebel continually, down to the time of 
the captivity; and it is not till after they return 
from Babylon to their oavii country, when prophets 
no longer exist, that the Jews establish a religion on 
faith in the Supreme Being of the world, and no 
longer hanker after the gods of their neighbors. 


THE ISRAELITES UNDER JOSHUA. 


29 


CHAPTER VI. 


THE ISRAELITES UNDER JOSHUA. 

We have now followed in the tracks of the Israel¬ 
ites to the banks of the river Jordan. They have 
already subdued a large country, on the east side of 
the river, by their great victory over the Moabites 
and Midianites; and this has been alloted to two and 
one-half tribes, Reuben and Gad, and one-half tribe 
of Manasseb. Nine tribes and the one-half tribe are 
to be provided for on the west side of the river in the 
land of Canaan. 

The river must be crossed by an immense army and 
a vast multitude of people, with all their flocks and 
herds. No bridge is there over which they can pass; 
no boats are there by which they can be conveyed to 
the other side. Spies have been sent over to look at 
the country and have returned with glowing accounts 
of what they have seen; and the multitudes are 
anxious to gain a footing on the other side. Forty 
years have elapsed since their fathers crossed the Red 
Sea, and the sons cannot be baffled by a narrow 
stream. Besides, they are all young now, save two, 
Joshua and Caleb; for these alone, in the whole 
multitude, have seen more than sixty summers; for 
all, except these two, that were twenty and upward 
when they left Egypt, have paid for their transgres¬ 
sions with their lives. Joshua is now their captain 
and he bids them to prepare to cross the stream. 
The priests that carry the ark that contains the law 
walk down into the river and the waters part asunder 
and remain in that condition until all have passed 
through on dry land. This, indeed, was a great event 
4* 



30 


THE ISRAELITES UNDER JOSHUA. 


in Jewish history and deserved a monument com¬ 
memorative of it as lasting as the Egyptian pyramids. 
Joshua was not entirely forgetful of this, for he 
commanded twelve men, one from each tribe, to pass 
through and pick up twelve stones from the bed of 
the river, to be placed in a pile on the western bank, 
as a memorial of the event forever. So that, in future 
generations, when the children should ask their 
fathers, what means this pile of stones ? they should 
explain to them the history of crossing the river. 
The absurdity of such a memorial remaining there, 
for even a single generation, amid friend and foe, is 
too great for comment. The book of Joshua claims to 
bring down to us a history of a successful warrior, 
who had been captain of the host under Moses. 
He was one of the only two men who left Egypt in 
manhood and allowed to cross to the promised land. 
All the others had lost their lives in the wilderness 
on account of their transgressions. Joshua now talks 
with Grod as familiarly as did Moses before him and 
receives like divine aid in all of his undertakings. 
He is charged by God to annihilate all the tribes 
before him, man, woman and child, throughout 
Canaan. The first city, Jericho, is soon reached and 
the army is marched around it once a day for six 
days. On the seventh day the army makes the circuit 
seven times in silence, when of a sudden the priests 
blow on their rams’ horns, and the soldiers shout, and 
the walls of Jericho fall. A novel way was this to 
besiege a city, but terrible in its effect. All the 
besiegers have to do now is to rush into the city, 
sword in hand, and slay the inhabitants. Joshua 
commands his soldiers to do this without delay, and 
spare not one, save only Rahab, the harlot, and her 
kindred, in reward for the former’s services m saving 
Joshua’s spies from being captured a few days 
before. Let us now take a look at the city before 
God’s chosen people enter into it to slay the inhabi¬ 
tants and try to learn the cause why they are to be 
thus destroyed. We may suppose that Jericho was 


THE ISRAELITES UNDER JOSHUA. 


31 


an old city of considerable strength at the time of 
Joshua’s invasion of the country, its walls being of 
sufficient thickness to support houses on the top. 
What its principal business was we are not told; but 
since the narrative implies that flocks and herds were 
kept within its walls, we may suppose that it was 
at that time the centre of a stock-raising district; 
and that the flocks and herds were driven within its 
walls at night for better protection. We are not told 
anything about the number of its inhabitants, but 
we may infer that there were a good many thousands, 
as a king ruled in the city. We are not told that the 
people were wicked, except that a harlot lived there; 
but the two Jews who went as spies seemed to find her 
at once. They were probably people who worshipped 
idols; so did the Jews the greater part of the time, as 
did all the people of the earth in the early ages. But 
we have no reason to suppose that the people of 
Jericho were much better nor much worse than other 
peoples at that time; therefore, we will climb over 
the demolished walls and take a look at the terror- 
stricken people who, by this time, know they are 
doomed to die. There are gray-haired men and 
women who haved passed through the joys and sor 
rows of life, and who know, too well, that in a few 
minutes they are to be cut short of the few months or 
years that might be yet left to them but for the 
impending slaughter; strong men and women, who, 
up to the present hour, have looked with pride upon 
their sons and daughters, and would have protected 
them at any cost, and who now see the impending 
danger, but are powerless to avert the evil; sons and 
daughters, in the pride of early life, who, a few days 
ago, had life’s best hopes before them, are now crushed 
by the agonizing certainty that their young lives, with 
all their cherished hopes and love and aspirations, 
are soon to be blotted out by an indiscriminate 
slaughter; lovely girls and noble boys, of tender 
years, guilty of no crime but that of being obedient 
to the teachings they have received, fly to their 


32 


THE ISRAELITES UNDER JOSHUA. 


parents for protection, but are assured of naught but 
pitying love; infants, pure as the heavens above them, 
clasped to their mother’s bosoms, may feel the throb¬ 
bing of the hearts within and see the indescribable 
anguish depicted on their mothers’ faces, but all too 
young to realize the cause, are doomed to fall; for 
over them too, the sword is suspended and will soon 
fall to blot out their innocent lives, while there is no 
hand to save, no God to pity. We turn from the 
scene with a heart sickened by the thought of the 
impending cruelties, and wonder if God’s wisdom, 
mercy and love are suspended for the time being. 

There are thousands of the young and innocent in 
that city, who could be educated to embrace any form 
of religion, any code of morals, and become some of 
earth’s noblest men and women. 

Can God, in his wisdom, make no provision for 
them but to let them fall beneath the ruthless swords 
of blood-stained soldiers ? Has earth become so thickly 
peopled, that these must be blotted out to make room 
for a chosen few? Modern civilization would condemn 
such an expediency now; God, in His wisdom, would 
condemn it in any age of the world. Barbarous 
cruelties against humanity, which the wisdom and 
justice of this age will not tolerate nor permit, God, 
in His infinite wisdom, never commanded to be per¬ 
petrated in any age. 

I will not dwell upon the details of any other of 
Joshua’s victories. They follow in rapid succession, 
one after another; each is terrible, and each is 
remorseless as the others. We read that Joshua put to 
death thirty-one kings and multitudes ol their people. 
He burned their cities and laid the country in ruins. 
But after a long and victorious career, he found that 
he had gained but little in comparison with the 
amount promised to the Israelites when they invaded 
the land. 

At last, he grew old like otner men, and was no 
longer able to bear the burden of command; and war 
ceased. Much had to be done yet, before all the 


THE ISRAELITES UNDER JOSHUA. 


tribes could take possession of the estates promised 
them. But Joshua was not equal to the task. He 
who had, a few years before, been able to stop the sun 
and moon in their course, that the day of battle 
might be lengthened, became now too feeble to com¬ 
mand an army As with other men, his strength 
failed him in old age, and he was compelled to lay 
down the sword. His Clod of battles seemed to see 
the difficulty, and to admit that the work of destroying 
the Canaanites was a little more than he had calcu¬ 
lated on; and all concerned, seemed willing to defer 
the remainder of the undertaking to a more convenient 
season. But Joshua’s God of battles tries to console 
the old captain by telling him to make the best of what 
he has done. Seven tribes are not yet provided for, 
but Joshua is instructed to give them the boundaries 
of their future inheritance in the unconquered country. 
And the same God of battles promises to go with the 
tribes, and to deliver the country and people into their 
hands. Joshua exhorts the tribes to be true to their 
trust, and to put away the many other gods that they 
have already among them; and to worship the one 
God only. He dies at the age of one hundred and 
ten years, full of doubts as to the tribes accomplish¬ 
ing what he has failed to do. 

If savage bravery and remorseless cruelties commend 
a man to God, Joshua stands second to no hero that 
ever passed through the portals of heaven. 



‘34 


THE ISRAELITES UNDER JUDGES. 


CHAPTER VII. 


THE ISRAELITES UHDER JUDGES. 

We now come to a new phase of Jewish government 
or, more properly, an absence of government among 
the tribes. We have already seen that Joshua did a 
good deal of fighting, but he appears to have estab¬ 
lished no order or union among his people, that should 
hold them together in united action against their 
enemies. 

Nation after nation, we are told, Joshua utterly 
destroyed, but immediately after his death, these same 
nations rise up in every quarter, while Israel is 
without a head and without a united force. Judah, 
indeed, has been pointed out to take the lead; and 
Simeon and Judah unite their forces and agree to 
help each other; but all that they accomplish is to 
re-conquer a part of the country that Joshua “utterly 
destroyed.” We might infer from the account of 
Joshua’s early career, that he so destroyed the nations, 
on every hand, that they could never again rise up to 
resist a force of any kind. Invading the land, as we 
are told Joshua did, with an army of about six hun¬ 
dred thousand able bodied men, he ought to have 
destroyed, or driven out, every inhabitant, from the 
Jordan to the Euphrates, in less than six months. 
Six hundred thousand soldiers, under an ordinary 
leader, could have made a steady march from one end 
of Palestine to the other. But strange it seems, 
Joshua never reached a point seventy-five miles from 
the fords of Jordan, in his victorious career of twenty 
or thirty years. We read that God gave the Israelites 



THE ISRAELITES UNDER JUDGES. 


35 


rest from all their enemies long before Joshua died; 
hut many of the tribes had not yet reached their 
allotted portions at the chieftain’s death; and it is 
difficult to imagine where they all lived at that time. 
But it is evident that long before Joshua’s death, the 
Israelites were scattered about among the Canaanites, 
and were worshipping the hitter’s gods. 

Notwithstanding God had made so many covenants 
with their fathers, the Israelites were ever more ready 
to break them than to live up to them; and the only 
class that seemed to know much about the God of 
Moses, after Joshua’s death, was the priestly order, 
and for several generations after that event, the priests 
seem to have lost all influence, and they are 'not 
spoken of, except where it is to their disgrace. 

But the God of Moses was not always forgetful of 
his people, for He raised up a hero at times, to deliver 
Israel from surrounding nations that often held the 
Hebrews, in subjection for long periods. After a hero 
of this kind had driven out the enemy, he became 
judge of his people for life. The judge was generally 
brought to notice by a revelation to himself or to 
another, but his influence died with him, and the 
people generally retrograded into their old ruts of sin. 

As the judge claimed to be raised up and aided by 
the true God, the. tribes, or a part of them, made a 
show at worshipping that God during the life-time of 
the judge; but as soon as the latter died, they almost 
invariably forsook the One-God idea, and again 
worshipped the gods of the heathen nations, for which 
offense they were again sold into servitude. 

After Joshua’s death, there seems to have been no 
general leader for about thirty years; during which 
time, the Israelites became pretty well mixed with 
the Canaanites, who stilled lived and held their own 
pretty well throughout the promised land. Inter¬ 
marriage became common, and the Israelites adopted 
the religion and customs of their neighbors to a great 
extent. And at the end of this period, it would seem 
difficult to tell which was Jew and which Gentile. 


36 


THE ISRAELITES UNDER JUDGES. 


But the Israelites had so provoked God by this time, 
that He sold them into the hand of the king of 
Mesopotamia. This king did not only conquer the 
Israelites, but also all the tribes in Canaan. We are 
not informed whether the two and one-half tribes 
east of 'the Jordan were subdued or not at this time, 
but they had become so closely allied by intermarriage 
with the Moabites and Midianites, that they probably 
united forces, and held the king of Mesopotamia 
at bay. 

The tribes west of the Jordan served their conqueror 
eight years and then cried to their own God for help, 
whose pity was awakened, as on all such occasions, and 
he raised up Othniel to deliver them. After Othniel 
had delivered his people, he judged Israel forty years; 
but we are not informed that he tried to destroy any 
of the Canaanites. Probably he did not, as God had 
come to the conclusion to leave the old tribes to 
dwell among the Israelites as thorns in their sides, a 
very wise conclusion under circumstances. Ho sooner 
had Othniel died, than the Israelites began to sin 
again by worshipping the gods of the heathen. But 
they were again punished by being given again into 
servitude. This time, Eglon, king of Moab,-subdued 
them and held them in servitude for eighteen years. 
Again Israel cried to God for aid, and again He 
raised them up a deliverer in the person of Ehud, 
a Benjaminite. 

This hero began his work by treachery and assas¬ 
sination. He took presents to the king, and, after 
offering them, he sent his servants away, and told the 
king that he had a secret errand with him. Eglon 
received the Jew with all friendliness in his summer 
parlor, where the subtle Ehud drew a dagger and 
murdered the king. Ehud made his escape and 
went into the mountains of Ephraim, blew his 
trumpet and called Israel together. He made war 
with the Moabites, and slew of them ten thousand, all 
lusty and men of valor. “ So they subdued the 
Moabites that day, and the land had rest eighty 


THE ISRAELITES UNDER JUDGES. 


37 


years.” We are not informed how long Ehud lived, 
but after him was Shamgar, the third judge, who slew 
six hundred Philistines with an ox goad. After this 
Israel sinned again, and God sold them into the hands 
of Jabin, king of Canan, who reigned in Hazor, the 
captain of whose host was Sisera; and Israel was 
mightily oppressed for twenty years. But to suppose 
that all Israel was oppressed by Hazor would be 
inconsistent, for although the records show that the 
tribes were united in no common cause, any two or 
three of them would vastly outnumber the little 
nation whose centre of power was in Hazor. The 
little city was situated in Naphtali’s allotment in the 
northern part of Palestine, and the country around it 
could not have supported a very great population, as 
it was situated in a mountainous district. In the 
war that ensued, after the twenty years of oppression, 
only the two tribes immediately concerned were called 
into action. These were the tribes of Zebulun and 
Naphtali. And when we read how many brave 
fighting men each of these tribes had when the Israel¬ 
ites crossed the Jordan, it seems strange where they 
all were at this time, to be oppressed so long by a 
little community on their borders. 

But so low had the once proud spirits of the Israel¬ 
ites fallen that not a man could be found among 
them, or at least in the two tribes concerned, who 
dared to rise up against the oppressor. But a woman, 
a prophetess, who lived in Mount Ephraim, and who 
judged a part of Israel at the time, was equal to the 
occasion. She called to her Barak, a man who lived 
in Redesh, a city a few miles from Hazor, and 
informed him that God had commanded, saying, “Go 
and draw near to Mount Tabor, and take with thee 
ten thousand men of the children of Naphtali and 
Zebulon, and I will draw unto thee to the river 
Kishon, Sisera, the captain of Jabin’s army, with his 
chariots and his multitude; and I will deliver him 
into thine hands.” But Barak declared that he 
would not go, unless the prophetess went with him. 

5 


38 


THE ISRAELITES UNDER JUDGES. 


She consented to go, but declared that the victory 
would not be to his honor; for Sisera should fall into 
the hands of a woman. The army is raised, and, in 
due time, reaches Mount Tabor, some twenty-five 
miles south from Hazor, and Sisera follows with 
nine hundred chariots of iron and a multitude of 
soldiers. The battle is soon fought and Jabin’s army 
slaughtered to a man. But Sisera jumps from his 
chariot and makes his escape on foot. After a time 
he thinks he has found a hiding place with a friend. 
The Israelites burn the iron chariots and then follow 
in pursuit of Sisera. Barak finds Sisera in the tent 
of Jael, wife of Heber the Kenite. There was peace 
between Heber and Jabin; therefore Sisera had a 
right to expect protection. But Heber’s wife acts 
the part of treachery. She receives Sisera with 
seeming friendship, puts him to bed, gives him some 
milk to drink, but when the fugitive falls to sleep 
she drives a nail through his head so that it goes into 
the floor beneath and fastens him there. Barak soon 
reaches the tent and is met by Jael, who takes him 
into the tent and shows him the body of the dead, 
man. Thus was Jabin subdued and the land had rest 
for forty years. 

After the victory over Jabin, Deborah, the prophet¬ 
ess, and Barak sang their song of praise, which 
comprises the fifth chapter of Judges. The song 
would be more appropriate to be sung by savages 
when they form into a circle and dance around a 
fallen foe than to be offered in praise and thanks¬ 
giving to the God of mankind. 

After the demise of Deborah and Barak, Israel 
sinned again, and God sold them into the land of 
Midian for seven years. The records imply that 
during these periods while the judges lived, the 
Israelites followed the one true God; but if such 
were the case, they could have had no proper concep¬ 
tion of Him any more than do the so-called heathens 
of to-day. For to suppose that a nation of reasonable 
men could conscientiously worship and have faith in 


THE ISRAELITES UNDER JUDGES. 


39 


an unseen God, and teach their children accordingly, 
for ten, twenty, forty and even eighty years at a time, 
and then, as soon as one man, a leader among them, 
dies, give themselves up to the worship of images and 
to the worst forms of idolatry, is too absurd to be 
entertained for a moment. The fact is, the Jews, 
like other people, arrived at a truer conception of the 
Diety, step by step, as the ages rolled along; and it 
was not till after the return from captivity, that they 
established a religion on a faith in the one unseen and 
everlasting God. 

After the demise of Deborah and Barak, we find 
the tribes plunged deeper into sin and deeper into 
mystery than at any former age. Some of the tribes 
are seldom mentioned; the priestly order is never 
referred to, and there seems to be no system of religion 
whatever. Many of the tribes have a very precarious 
hold on the country allotted to them; and the 
original Canaanites seem to be in all parts of the 
country as they were before Joshua blotted them out 
of existence. 

As related above, the Israelites have just subdued 
the king of Hazor in the north, and have gained their 
liberty in that section for the present. Their other 
principal enemies are the Philistines in the south¬ 
west, who occupy a narrow strip of country bordering 
on the Mediterranean Sea, and the Moabites and 
Midianites, who hold the country east of the Jordan 
and Dead Sea. 

The tribes of Gad and Kueben, and the half tribe 
of Manasseh, received their allotments in the last 
named section, but the Moabites and Midianites hold 
them in subjection the most of the time; and we are 
now told that the Midianites have sorely oppressed 
Israel for seven years. Whether they have sorely 
oppressed all Israel or not, we cannot tell, but the 
term seems to be general and as such we take it. 

It would be difficult to conceive of a more con¬ 
temptible condition for a people than that which we 
find the Israelites in now. Their condition seems to 


40 


THE ISRAELITES UNDER JUDGES. 


be deplorable in the extreme. They have sunk to the 
lowest ebb of manliness now, from their vaunted 
greatness and glory of two centuries ago. Invading 
Midian then, under the lead of Moses, with an army 
six hundred thousand strong, they disdained to send 
more than twelve thousand into the field. These put 
to death all the inhabitants except the females who 
had not known man. They burned the cities and 
laid waste the country without losing a single man on 
their side. Now we see that little Midian not only 
lives, but is master of Israel. And when we take 
into account the extent of country that the Israelites 
are spread over, its mountain ranges and rich valleys, 
and compare it with the small extent of Midian, and 
that half desert, the Israelites appear too contemptible 
to live. 

They are not only oppressed in the ordinary way, 
but they are driven to the greatest straits. They flee 
to the mountains for refuge, and dig dens like foxes 
to live in. 

The Midianites take away the oxen and sheep from 
the Israelites, and pasture their own flocks in the fields 
of the oppressed; and when the Israelites sow.grain, 
the Midianites carry away the increase of the earth. 

This we read, was the condition of the Israelites 
about two centuries after they invaded the promised 
land, in all their vaunted greatness and glory. 

Their oppression was so sore this time, that it 
required only seven years to bring them back to a 
sense of their duty. So they cried once more to God 
for deliverance. Their cry was heard as at other 
times, and God raised them up a prophet to rehearse 
to them the story of their deliverance from Egypt. 
In this instance, an angel is sent to Gideon who is 
thrashing by the wine press, on the sly, to keep the 
wheat from the Midianites. The angel salutes Gideon 
as, “Thou man of valor!” and then delivers his 
message. Gideon makes ready the customary repast, 
and brings it out to the angel who requests Gideon to 
place the cakes and meat on a rock. This done, the 


THE ISRAELITES UNDER JUDGES. 


41 


angel touches the food with a staff, and fire comes out 
from the rock and consumes it. The angel then 
disappears. This miracle ought to have satisfied any 
one in those days that it was an act divine; but Gideon 
was not quite sure about his mission until he tried 
his stratagem with the fleece of wool. He was then 
convinced that he had a divine appointment and, 
accordingly, he called his people together. Thirty-two 
thousand came at Gideon’s call, but God tells him 
there are too many ; and when the judge proclaims to 
his army that all may go home who are fearful of the 
enemy, twenty-two thousand depart, leaving ten 
thousand. But ten thousand are too many and Gideon 
is instructed to take them down to the water to drink, 
and to select those only, who lap like a dog, and to 
let the rest go to their tents. Gideon must have had 
keen eyes to watch ten thousand men drink, and to 
see how each one did it. But we must not question 
such things, but let Gideon go on with his work. 

Three hundred lap like dogs, and these are chosen 
to overcome the enemy. With these three hundred 
men Gideon is to subdue a nation that has sorely 
oppressed Israel for seven years. He attacks them in 
the night, and so discomfits them that they fall on 
one another, and fall by the thousands. The Midian- 
ites are scattered in all directions, and the Israelites 
turn out on all sides, and slay them in their flight. 
One hundred and twenty thousand of the enemy are 
slain, and Israel is once more delivered. Gideon is 
made judge, and remains at the head of his people for 
forty years. He then dies, leaving seventy sons by 
his many wives and one son by a concubine. 

It is made to appear that during Gideon’s judgeship 
the Israelites had faith in and worshipped the one 
God. But immediately after the death of the old 
hero they went after other gods. And for the first 
time in the history of the judges the sons laid claim 
to the government on the death of the father. 
Jealousies arose and a revolution was inaugurated. 
The son by Gideon’s concubine put to death the 
5 * 


42 


THE ISRAELITES UNDER JUDGES. 


seventy legitimate sons, save one, and was then made 
king of Shechem by its people and ruled in Israel 
three years. Civil war then broke out and Abimeleck, 
the king, destroyed the city and put its people to 
death. Abimelech then went to Thebez and took the 
city, hut was killed in the act. Then arose Tola of 
Issachar, who judged Israel twenty-three years. And 
after Tola arose Jair, a Gileadite, who judged Israel 
twenty-two years; but we are not informed how these 
last two judges were raised to power nor anything 
that they did. 

We find that Gideon, Abimelech, Tola and Jair 
judged for a period, in the aggregate, of eighty-eight 
years; but it is very evident, from the narrative, that 
their rule extended over only small sections. 

Abimelech’s power certainly did not extend far 
outside of Shechem; Tola and Jair could have had 
but little influence anywhere. There appears to have 
been no great war on any side during this period and 
nothing to call forth any great hero. The Israelites 
had probably settled down again to the worship of 
idols and lived in peace with their heathen neighbors. 
But a continued peace was as much out of the ques¬ 
tion- then as in later times, for as soon as any one of 
those petty nations felt powerful enough to become 
the aggressor, it was not backward in encroaching 
upon the rights of its neighbors. And we soon find 
that Israel is again sorely oppressed. 



THE ISRAELITES UNDER JUDGES. 


43 


CHAPTER VIII. 


THE ISRAELITES UNDER JUDGES CONTINUED. 

We read that after Jair’s death Israel sinned again 
and left the true God. But it would be strange, even 
for the Jews, if they had worshipped the true God ever 
since Gideon was raised to power, a period of eighty- 
eight years, to go after other gods so suddenly after a 
judge died. Such a change would show that they 
had no intelligent conception of the Deity more than 
their heathen neighbors. But at this change, we are 
informed, they were not satisfied with a few of the 
heathen gods, as at former times, but they ran after 
every god within their reach. In the North they 
went after the gods of Syria and Zidon; in the South 
and East they embraced the gods of the Philistines, 
of the Moabites, of the Ammonites, and the gods 
Baalim and Ashtaroth. They seem to have gone wild 
after heathen gods when once freed from the restraints 
of the true God they served so long. But, as at 
other times, they again brought down the anger of 
their deserted God upon their own heads, and He 
sold them into the hands of the Philistines and 
Ammonites who oppressed them eighteen years. They 
were again brought to repentance and cried for 
deliverance. 

But they were informed that forgiveness ceased to 
be a virtue and they would be pardoned no more. 
But their supplications continued till God was 
grieved at their misery; and the Israelites were once 
more satisfied that deliverance was at hand. 

The Israelites assembled at Mizpeh and the Am¬ 
monites encamped in Gilead. 



44 


THE ISRAELITES UNDER JUDGES. 


The Gileadites, a new tribe of which we have 
heard but once before, seem at this period to be quite 
numerous, and seem to be the dominant class of the 
Israelites on the east side of the Jordan, spreading 
over a large part of the territory of the two and one 
half tribes on that side of the river. Their origin is 
buried in obscurity, but they are accused by the 
Ephraimites, of being fugitives of Ephraim among 
the Ephraimites. This class now waged war with 
the Ammonites. The Gileadites promised that any 
man who would begin the fight against Ammon, 
should be head over the inhabitants of Gilead. But 
there was no man among them who dared to strike 
the first blow at the enemy. Therefore, they sent to 
the land of Tob to recall jephthah, a man whom they 
had exiled a few years before. Jephthah was the son 
of a harlot by Gilead, and had been driven into exile 
by Gilead’s legitimate sons. He was a mighty man of 
valor and they recalled him to take the lead in a 
strife, they dared not enter into without him, notwith¬ 
standing they felt assured of help from God. Jephthah 
declined to comply with the request of his people at 
first, and upbraided them for having sent him into 
exile; but receiving every assurance that he should be 
the head of his people, he consented to return. This 
war seems to have been for the deliverance of the 
Israelites east of the Jordan, for we learn nothing 
about the western tribes being freed from the yoke of 
the Philistines. And Jephthah’s rule must have been 
confined to a small part of Israel. 

Before going to battle, Jephthah made a vow to 
God, that on condition of victory over the enemy, 
he would offer up for a burnt offering, the first thing 
that he might see coming out of the door of his house 
on his return home. He gained the victory and 
returned home; and the first thing he saw was his 
only child, a lovely daughter, coming out of the door 
to greet him. “ Alas! my daughter ” said he, “ Thou 
hast brought me very low. ” “ Alas! Alas! Those 

who could turn their back on God any day, and follow 


THE ISRAELITES UNDER JUDGES. 


45 


other gods, could not, on this occasion, break a rash 
and foolish vow to save a lovely maiden and an inno¬ 
cent child from being offered up for a burnt-offering.” 
Nor had Jephthah’s God wisdom and mercy enough 
to avert the sacrifice. 

But although Jephthah subdued Ammon and 
delivered his people, he brought upon his own head the 
jealousy and enmity of the tribe of Ephraim. The 
latter complained that Jephthah went out to fight 
Ammon without asking their assistance; and for this 
offense, they threatened to burn him and his house 
with fire. Jephthah plead his cause to no effect, and 
then resorted to arms to settle the matter. Civil war 
ensued. The Gileadites smote the Ephraimites, 
because the latter said: “Ye Gileadites are fugitives 
of Ephraim among Ephraimites and Manassites.” 
The Gileadites took the passage to Jordan, and when 
the men of Ephraim that bad escaped slaughter in 
the battle, tried to cross the Jordan, the test word, 
Shibboleth, was put to them by the guards, and those 
who failed to pronounce it correctly, were put to 
death; and the Gileadites slew, at that time, forty-two 
thousand men of Ephraim. After that Jephthah 
judged Israel six years and then died. The story 
about Jephthah and his doings is inconsistent with 
other events of the same period; for if forty-two 
thousand men of the tribe of Ephraim were slain in 
the civil war, it implies that, even if there were no 
more able bodied men left in that tribe, it must have 
numbered over two hundred thousand souls. But we 
have no reason to suppose that more than one half of 
the able bodied men of any tribe would be engaged in 
any action of the period under consideration, and that 
would imply nearly half a million souls in Ephraim 
alone. And when we take into consideration the 
twelve tribes, intermixed as they were with the origi¬ 
nal inhabitants, we cannot estimate the whole popu¬ 
lation on both sides of the Jordan, at less than six 
millions; and this number would be far in excess of 
their numbers at any time. But allowing the above 


46 


THE ISRAELITES UNDER JUDGES. 


calculation to be anywhere near correct, what a 
deplorable picture it presents of the tribes who 
claimed to be God's chosen people. What a low 
condition they must have fallen into, to be compelled, 
a large portion of the time, to pay tribute to those 
little communities, the Philistines, Midianites, Moab¬ 
ites, Ammonites and others in turn, no one of which 
could have numbered more than one tenth of that of 
their own population. But the most unreasonable 
part of this legend is the manner in which so many 
Ephraimites fell. The Gileadites secured the fords 
of the Jordan, after they had defeated Ephraim, in 
order to prevent the fugitives from returning home; 
and in order to distinguish the Ephraimites from 
others, they required every one that came to the fords 
to say Shibboleth as a test. It appears that the 
Ephraimites could not pronounce the word correctly, 
but said Sibboleth; and all who thus pronounced 
it were slain. The story implies that many thou¬ 
sands fell in this way. The Ephraimites must have 
walked up like lambs to the slaughter, heedless of 
their doom; otherwise those in the rear would have 
retreated to some other quarter to have tried at least 
to save themselves. It would seem impossible that 
the Gileadites could carry on such cold-blooded 
butchery for any length of time, without its being 
found out and prevented by retreat on the part of 
Ephraim. But if so many were slain at the fords as 
the story implies, we can reasonably infer that the 
Ephraimites, instead of becoming a multitude of 
nations, as Jacob predicted for them, in his blessing 
Ephraim in Egypt, they had become too cowardly to 
try to save their lives. We gleam another bit of 
information from the pronouncing of this test word; 
we learn that the tribes did not all speak alike, and 
there must have been a marked difference when one 
tribe could not “ frame to speak ” a word in the same 
way that another did. This may not be an impor¬ 
tant fact, nevertheless it shows plainly that some of 
the twelve tribes were more closely allied to their 
neighbors than to one another. 


THE ISRAELITES UNDER JUDGES. 


47 


After Jephthah, Ibzan, of Bethlehem, judged Israel 
seven years and then died. We are told nothing 
about Ibzan except that he had thirty sons and thirty 
daughters, the latter of whom he sent abroad and 
took in thirty daughters from abroad for his sons. 
And after Ibzan, Elon, a Zebulonite, judged Israel ten 
years and died. And after Elon, Abdon, a Piratho- 
nite, judged Israel eight years and died. Of the 
last named judge, we learn the interesting fact that 
he had forty sons and thirty nephews, who rode on 
three score and ten ass colts. 

After the close of the last judgeship, which occu¬ 
pied a period of thirty-one years, Israel sinned again; 
and God sold them into the hands of the Philistines 
for forty years. In the early part of these forty years 
an angel appeared unto a woman, the wife of Manoah, 
a Danite. This woman was childless; but the angel 
promised her that she should bear a son who should 
be a Nazarite, and should begin to deliver Israel from 
the Philistines. The woman and her husband, on the 
second appearance of the angel, begged to detain him 
until they should make ready the customary kid. 
The angel declined to partake of any food, but told 
them that if they would offer a burnt offering, it 
must be to the Lord. They complied, and the angel 
did wondrous things in their sight, and then ascended 
to heaven in the flames. We might expect, from a 
son thus promised and given, wonderful things; and, 
according to the account, our expectations are fully 
met. The woman bares a son and calls his name 
Samson. The child grows and the Lord blesses him. 
The next thing we learn about him is that he falls in 
love with a daughter of the Philistines in Timmath. 
His father and mother are displeased with their son’s 
choice, but he persuades them to go with him to 
Timmath to procure her for him. While on their 
way Samson kills a lion, but. thinks so little about it 
that he does not even speak of it. His choice for a 
wife is submitted to, and when Samson finally goes to 
get her he puts forth a riddle to his companions so as 


48 


THE ISRAELITES UNDER JUDGES 


to find occasion against them; the account of which 
may be read in the fourteenth chapter of Judges. 
The young men find out the riddle through Samson’s 
wife. Samson gets angry at the deception played on 
him and seeks revenge. He goes to Askelon, kills 
thirty Philistines and gives the garments that he 
strips from his slain victims to the expounders of the 
riddle. Samson then returns to his father’s house 
and his wife is given to another. But his feelings of 
revenge are not yet satisfied and he seeks to do the 
Philistines a further injury. In the time of the 
wheat harvest Samson goes to visit his wife again, 
but as she has been to another he fails to see her. 
To spite the Philistines, Samson catches three hun¬ 
dred foxes and ties them together in pairs, tail to tail, 
and fastens fire-brands to their tails and sends them 
through the cornfields of the Philistines, so that the 
standing grain and the shocks are consumed by fire, 
and also the vineyards and olives. Let us pause and 
ask, in the name of common sense, how could this be? 

In the first place, how could Samson procure so 
many foxes within a reasonable time to meet an 
emergency ? In the second place, if lie had had so 
many foxes already tied tail to tail, how could they 
have run through the fields? In such a condition 
foxes would certainly try to run in opposite direc¬ 
tions, and in their failure to do that they would 
struggle to free themselves one from another. It was 
a foolish conception in the author of the legend, 
while he might more reasonably have said that a 
fire-brand was tied to the tail of each of the foxes as 
they were let loose into the cornfields. But admitting 
that all difficulties were obviated and the three 
hundred foxes had a fair run, how far could they 
have gone before the fire-brands would have been 
extinguished or burned loose from their tail ? They 
certainly could not have gone far; and the damage 
done could not have extended beyond a few little 
fields. And when the author of the story tells us 
that not only all the grain of the Philistines was 


THE ISRAELITES UNDER JUDGES. 


49 


burned, but also the vineyards and olives, he adds 
foolishness to absurdity, and makes the story appear 
too ridiculous to be classed even with the legends of 
a country. The Philistines ask, “ who has done this 
thing ?” They are told Samson is the guilty one, and 
has done it because his wife has been taken from him 
and given to another. They burn his wife and her 
father for giving cause for this trouble, and again 
Samson’s anger is raised, and he smites the Philistines 
hip and thigh. After this Samson goes and dwells 
in the top of the rock Etam. The Philistines follow 
him with the intention of capturing him; but three 
thousand men of Judah do this for them and deliver 
Samson, bound by cords, into their hands. Samson 
breaks loose and slays a thousand of the enemy with 
the jawbone of an ass, that he chances to pick up. 
After the slaughter Samson is sore athirst, and cries 
unto God for a drink. Water comes forth from the 
jawbone that he has used as a weapon of slaughter, 
and he satisfies his thirst, and his spirits revive again. 
After the slaughter of so many Philistines, Samson 
goes to Gaza and lodges with a harlot; but his 
presence is known to the men of the city, who lie in 
wait for him. But Samson eludes them by rising at 
midnight and carrying off the gates of the city, 
together with the bar and posts, all of which he 
carries to the top of a hill near to Hebron, which is 
some forty miles distant. This, indeed, must be con¬ 
sidered a great feat, and worthy even of Samson. 
Next, Samson falls in love with Delilah, a woman of 
the valley of Sarek, whom the lords of the Philistines 
bribe to find out wherein Samson’s great strength 
lietli. After lying to his wife a number of times, 
Samson tells her that he has been a Nazarite from 
birth; but if he be shaven he will be weak as other 
men. Delilah sees now that he has told her the 
truth. She sends for the lords of the Philistines and 
all is made ready to ensare him. Delilah now puts 
forth her best efforts; she glows in beauty and love¬ 
liness; her voluptuous charms are overwhelming to 
6 


50 


THE ISRAELITES UNDER JUDGES. 


her lord, and he becomes her dupe. He kneels at her 
side and rests his head upon her knees; and the man 
of God-given power becomes lost in a deep sleep. 
The servant of God is entrapped at last; a barber 
enters the apartment, shears in hand, and robs the 
strong man of his locks ere he awakens. But Samson 
is soon aroused by the tramp of the now fearless lords 
of the Philistines, and is about to shake himself as 
at other times; but, alas! alas! his strength has 
departed, and he has become as weak as a child. The 
Philistines bind Samson with fetters of brass, put out 
his eyes, take him to Gaza, and place him in a mill to 
grind for them. After a time Samson’s hair grows 
out again and his strength increases. The Philistines 
meet together to olfer a great sacrifice to their god, 
Dagon; and they bring Samson out of his prison to 
make sport for them. He is led by a boy to a build¬ 
ing that is filled with men, women and children, 
and three thousand people are on the roof. Samson 
requests the boy to let him rest against the two pillars 
that support the house. How is the time for revenge! 
He prays for strength that he may tear down the 
pillars and let the building fall upon himself and the 
Philistines. He dies victorious, and kills more at his 
death than he has in all his life before. 

Thus we have briefly glanced at the career of one 
who, we were led to believe, was to be a man of God 
and a deliverer of Israel. But though a Hazarite from 
birth, we fail to find in his character a single feature 
of godliness, or one redeeming virtue. It might 
seem that a man, brought into existence under such 
circumstances as Samson was, would have achieved 
more and would have conferred greater blessings on 
his people; but so far as any good was concerned, he 
might as well not have been born. Every act that he 
did through life, was rather to provoke the Philistines 
to greater oppression in their rule over southern 
Palestine, than to abate it; and every assault that he 
made on them, was to avenge his own personal diffi¬ 
culties with them rather than the wrongs of his fellow 


THE ISRAELITES UNDER JUDGES. 


51 


countrymen. He simply accomplished nothing for 
Israel; for the Philistines continued to rule over a 
number of the tribes throughout Samson’s life-time, 
and never ceased in their rule, until they were finally 
driven out of the country by David. 

A Nazarite from birth, Samson ought to have 
possessed some of those finer qualities and virtues 
that have always commanded respect and admiration. 
Judging him from a standpoint of good morals in any 
age, we must place him among the low and vulgar, 
given to sensual desires, with very little self-restraint, 
or self-respect. We are led to think, that in select¬ 
ing his first wife, he was guided by divine wisdom, so 
that it might lead him into a quarrel with the Philis¬ 
tines; but the sequel shows plainly that no good 
came out of it to his people. Therefore, we conclude 
that God had no more to do with it, than He has now 
in any case where a similar character selects a wife to 
satisfy his own lusts. When Samson went to Gaza, he 
found a harlot at once; and in the valley of Sarek, he 
found his second wife, a woman without a redeeming 
virtue; and once in her power, he lost every sense of 
noble manhood, and became blind to everything hut * 
Delilah’s sensual charms. The whole story about 
Samson, in all probability, had its origin in the career 
of some rough character of those times, who was a 
terror to the community in which he lived, as other 
men of the same stamp have been in later times. His 
whole career portrays to us a man who, in modern 
times, would be classed as a bar-room loafer and 
pugilist. We read that Samson judged Israel twenty 
years, but there is not the shadow of evidence that 
he ever judged Israel at all; nor that he was capable 
of judging anything. The Philistines were masters of 
the field to the time of David. 


52 


JUDGES CONCLUDED . 


CHAPTER IX. 


JUDGES CONCLUDED. 

The last five chapters in the Book of Judges carry 
us back about three hundred years and give us 
accounts of two outrageous affairs, the actors in which 
were wholly of God’s chosen people. The first gives 
us an insight into their idolatrous worship, their 
thieving character and the little regard they had for 
decency, and for the rights and lives of others, even 
among their own kindred. The second is revolting 
in itself to common decency, and implies that the 
most revolting customs were practiced among the 
Israelites that can be conveyed to the human mind. 
And to say that God was in close communion with 
such a people and continually aiding them in the 
slaughter and destruction of peaceable communities 
for their own aggrandizement, is to heap infamy upon 
that Being whose wisdom, justice and love is omnipo¬ 
tent and eternal. The first two of these chapters 
tell us of a certain man, Micah, who lived in Mount 
Ephraim, and who had a house of gods, and who 
made an ephod and a teraphim and consecrated his 
son, who became his priest. And a young Levite jour¬ 
neyed that way and stopped at the house of Micah. 
And Micah hired the Levite to be his priest, at a 
fixed salary per year. The Levite was contented and 
thought he had a nice situation. At that time 
the Danites had not obtained a sufficient amount 
of land for the accommodation' of the whole tribe. 
Therefore they were allowed to go and take possession 
of a section of country on the northern border of 
Naphtali’s allotment. The original inhabitants had 



JUDGES CONCLUDED. 


53 


not yet been driven out; therefore they sent five men 
of their tribe to spy out the country. These five men 
put up at Micah’s house over night when on their 
way, and were pleased to find that Micah’s priest 
was an old acquaintance. They requested him to 
ask counsel of God for them. He did so, and told 
them to go in peace. The spies found that the land 
they went to spy out was inhabited by a peaceable and 
prosperous people who seemed to be quiet and secure 
in their homes. The spies returned home and 
reported what they had seen; and those of the 
tribes who were not already provided for, were 
soon on their way to this additional allotment. 

The five spies informed their companions concern¬ 
ing Micah’s household; and as they journeyed by the 
way, being in good force, they called in and robbed 
the old man of his gods, and also carried away his 
priest, the Levite. Micah’s gods were made of silver, 
and were of considerable value. They also carried 
away his ephod and teraphim, leaving him religiously 
destitute. The priest proved treacherous to his 
patron, by aiding in the theft, and by showing a 
willingness to go with the Danites. Micah, with his 
neighbors, went in pursuit to try to recover his gods 
and priest, but his life was threatened, and he had to 
retreat. 

These robbers, a part of a tribe in Israel, went to 
the land that had been promised to them by God, and 
put to death its peaceable, prosperous and inoffensive 
people, and took possession of it for themselves. They 
built a city and called it Dan, which became noted as 
a place of worship to the time of the captivity. In 
this city, which they built upon the ruined homes of 
the former occupants of the land, they deposited the 
stolen gods, images and other things which they had 
taken from Micah; and they bowed down to them and* 
worshipped them for hundreds of years, during long 
intervals of which time, we are told, they were in 
direct communion with the God of the universe and 
were aided by Him, in slaying their neighbors who 
6 * 


54 


JUDGES CONCLUDED. 


happened to be in their way. We are not told what 
became of the young Levite priest who aided the 
Danites in stealing Micah’s gods, but we read that 
“Jonathan, the son of Gershom, the son of Manasseh, 
he and his sons were priests to the tribe of Dan until 
the day of the captivity of the land.” In this story 
concerning the Danites, we have a plain insight into 
the condition of the Israelites during the time of the 
judges: their religion was idolatrous as that of any of 
the Gentile nations; and if, at times, a leader among 
them had any higher conception of the Diety than 
had his fellow men, he was unable to make a lasting 
impression on them, or to make his countrymen lose 
sight, for a moment, of the gods and images they kept 
with care in every household. The priests were 
educated in idolatry, and were no wiser nor better, as 
a class, than was the young Levite who helped the 
Danites to steal his patron’s gods. 

The last three chapters of the Book of Judges tell 
us about a quarrel between the tribe of Benjamin and 
the rest of Israel. The cause of the quarrel, and a 
good deal what the cause implies, is too revolting to 
decency to be rehearsed here; but the account may be 
read in the nineteenth chapter of Judges. It is hardly 
credible that even a community in Israel could 
become so bad and debased in character, as to commit 
a crime, so heinous in itself and so revolting to 
decency, as the one under consideration; and that, too, 
in so short a time after the tribes had been schooled 
under the leadership of the masterly Moses and the 
sanctified Aaron. 

To wipe out the disgrace, eleven tribes of Israel 
went up against the tribe of Benjamin, in which the 
crime was committed. The fighting men that drew 
the sword of the eleven tribes, numbered four hun¬ 
dred thousand, and those of the tribe of Benjamin, 
twenty-six thousand seven hundred. The Benja- 
minites assembled at Gibeah, and the eleven tribes at 
Mizpeh. These two cities were some five or six miles 
apart, and not very far from Jerusalem. These were 


JUDGES CONCLUDED. 


55 


surely unequal armies to face one another on the field 
of battle, one fifteen times greater than the other; 
and the little army at fault. In the first engagement, 
the Benjaminites slew twenty-two thousand of the 
opposing army and came olf unhurt themselves. On 
the second day, the eleven tribes went up against 
Benjamin again, after asking counsel of God, who 
told them to go, and they lose eighteen thousand men 
who drew the sword; and again Benjamin came off 
unhurt. By this time the eleven tribes had become 
fearful of the result, and they went up to the house 
of God and wept, and again asked counsel. Again 
God told them to go up against Benjamin, and He 
would give the latter into their hands. But having 
lost forty thousand men already and Benjamin still 
unhurt, the eleven tribes played a little stratagem on 
Benjamin and killed twenty-five thousand of the 
Benjaminites, and lost only thirty of their own men. 
The eleven tribes had now slain all the army of 
Benjamin, except a few hundreds, but they were not 
satisfied until they slew every old man, woman and 
child in the tribe of Benjamin, except six hundred 
men who fled to the wilderness to the rock Kimmon 
and abode there four months. 

These six hundred men were all the souls that were 
left of the tribe of Benjamin; and the Israelites had 
sworn at Mizpeh, that they would not give their 
daughters to the sons of Benjamin. But not wishing 
to see a tribe blotted out from Israel, they were 
puzzled to know how they should provide wives for 
the six hundred men. A plan, diabolical in its 
conception and remorseless in its execution, was soon 
devised and carried out, whereby wives were procured 
for four hundred. They sent twelve thousand men 
against Jabesh-Gilead, who slew all the inhabitants of 
that place, except the virgins, four hundred in number. 
These were given to four hundred of the Benjaminites, 
but two hundred were yet unprovided for. These 
were advised to go to a feast that was soon to be held 
near Shiloh, and to lie in wait near by, so that when 


56 


JUDGES CONCLUDED. 


the virgins became scattered in the fields, each man 
was to go for one, and carry her away for his wife. 
This was successfully done, and the Beniaminites were 
all supplied with wives and set up house-keeping at 
once and began to repair damages. We will not stop 
to ask how these two hundred men carried off two 
hundred virgins so easily, without being foiled in a 
single instance; it is enough to know that they did it; 
and still better to learn that the elders of Israel 
passified the parents of these virgins for the loss of 
their daughters. After the few remaining Benja- 
minites had been provided with wives, the Israelites 
returned every man to his tent, highly satisfied with 
what had been accomplished. And this ends the 
Book of Judges. 

If the Book of Judges were a real history of events 
that actually transpired, it would present to us one of 
the saddest and blackest pictures of human affairs 
that has come down to us from any part of the world. 
The picture would be sickening in its every feature, 
if beheld as a work of man solely; but when we are 
asked to receive it as a history of events that trans¬ 
pired under the direct guidance of God in the blackest 
part of them, it becomes too sickening in its deformity 
to be calmly contemplated. The actors were the im¬ 
mediate descendants of men who had been delivered 
from a long bondage in a country near their own, by 
the most remarkable miracles ever witnessed by man, 
and who were guided and educated, for forty years, 
by a man who talked familiarly with God at all times, 
when occasion required it; who were fed during forty 
years in a miraculous way; who beheld nation after 
nation fall before them like grass before the scythe ; 
who saw the waters of the river Jordan part asunder 
while they passed through on dry land; and who 
saw the walls of Jericho fall at the sound of the 
trumpet and shouts of the army. The actors were 
not only the immediate descendants of men who had 
seen all these things, but they themselves saw, at 
every step, striking examples of God’s special provi- 


JUDGES CONCLUDED. 


57 


dence, to avenge their wrongs, or to provide for their 
own aggrandizement. Yet, in the face of all these 
things, they had a hankering desire for the heathen 
gods, and they embraced them continually; and 
turned their backs upon their own, despite His 
rebuking them at every step in tones of thunder. 
Angels stepped down from heaven to bring them mes¬ 
sages from God, and to raise up prophets and leaders 
among them: but as soon as a leader that God had 
raised up among them passed away, they trod every 
covenant under their feet. They pretended to have a 
priestly order, as established under Moses and Aaron, 
but a priest is not mentioned in the Book of Judges, 
except in the last five chapters, where the legends 
about the two Levites carry us back to the generation 
in which Joshua lived. 

These two legends carry us back to the generation 
that had witnessed the later miracles performed by 
Moses; yet, we find that generation participating in 
theft, in idolatry, and in every form of corruption 
of the blackest die. 

We find the tribes plunged into civil war to avenge 
the heinous crime committed by the men of Gibeah 
against a woman, and although God directs it, forty 
thousand on the side that suffered must be slain 
before the twenty-five thousand on the side of the 
guilty are destroyed. 

And although the legend seems to have justice on 
its side in the slaughter of the twenty-five thousand 
men of Benjamin, can it plead innocence in putting 
to death all the women and children of that tribe for 
the sins of a few diabolical men ? Mercy among men 
of less godly claims might have stretched out its hand 
and shielded the innocent; but the Hebrews, in 
legend, were nurtured in cruelty toward their adver¬ 
saries, and the helpless innocent were ever victims 
under their barbarous stroke. Even Moses began his 
murderous career by killing an Egyptian, and ended 
it bv ordering his soldiers to slaughter, in cold blood, 
the mothers and innocent male children of the captive 


58 


JUDGES CONCLUDED. 


Midianites. Every Jewish leader that we read about 
in the Book of Judges, made desolate every Gentile 
home he dared to enter; mercy towards the innocent 
was foreign to his every act; he delighted in the ruin 
he had wrought, and then shielded his own dark, 
guilty soul, by imputing his own infamy to the will 
of Omnipotence. But we feel a relief and satisfaction 
in the thought that the whole book is made up of 
legendary tales, and was written centuries after the 
times in which the events are said to have transpired. 
The two legends recorded in the last five chapters 
carry us back to within a few years of the hero, 
Joshua; hut we know for a certainty that the recorder 
of them lived after the kingdom had been established. 
And he who will give any thought to the subject, can 
readily see, that from the beginning of the book to the 
end, every event is spoken of as having transpired in 
the then dim past The author of that part of the 
book, which brings us to the death of Samson, 
evidently gives no credence to an organized priest¬ 
hood in the times he writes about; for he does not 
so much as mention a priest. But, according to the 
instructions given in the Mosaic account, the priests 
were to lead out the armies to battle. The author 
of the First Book of Samuel introduces a high priest, 
and speaks of Eli as the high priest and judge of 
Israel, during the forty years that the Philistines 
held Israel in servitude, and while Samson was 
prowling about in southern Palestine. 

The chronology of the period of the Judges is as 
uncertain as the events themselves; and the best 
scholars differ very widely in regard to it. 


SAMUEL AND SA UL. 


59 


CHAPTER X. 


SAMUEL AND SAUL. 

We have followed the Israelites in their career under 
Joshua, and through their vicissitudes of fortune 
under Judges, and we now find them not one step in 
advance of their condition when they first set up 
government for themselves. Their habits are mostly 
pastoral; they have no cities worthy of the name; no 
commerce, no factories, no trade among themselves nor 
with others of any importance; no institutions that 
tend to elevate them above the heathens among whom 
they exist; hut they are reduced so low, that they have 
to go to the Philistines, their masters, to get the few 
tools sharpened that they do possess. 

The Philistines in the south-west, and the Ammo¬ 
nites in the south-east, are their most powerful 
enemies, but these two petty enemies must be greatly 
outnumbered by the Israelites and the tribes with 
whom they mix. And all that seems to be wanting 
to make them masters of the field, is a leader of 
sufficient force of character, to unite and hold together 
their scattered forces. A leader that begins this 
work is about to be introduced; but we must go back 
a couple of generations to find his origin somewhat 
connected with legend. 

Elkanah, a man of Mount Ephraim, had two wives; 
one of them had sons and daughters, but the other 
was childless. The wife that had no children was 
Elkanah’s favorite, and he loved her best. Once a 
year Elkanah went to Shiloh, to worship and to 
sacrifice. At these times he gave a better portion to 



60 


SAMUEL AND SA UL. 


his favorite wife than to the other. But the one that 
had children said provoking things to her rival, and 
plagued her because she had neither sons nor daugh¬ 
ters. But on one occasion the favorite prayed that 
she might have a son, and vowed that if her petition 
were granted, she would lend the child to the Lord. 
Eli, the high priest, blessed her and asked the Lord 
to grant her petition. The son was given, and she 
called him Samuel. The child, after being weaned, 
was given in charge of the high priest, and was raised 
up a Nazarite, and ministered to the Lord before Eli; 
and in time, became prophet and judge in Israel. 
During Samuel’s rule, Israel met with many reverses 
at first, but finally gained a great victory over the 
Philistines. As the prophet advanced in life, he 
made his two sons judges in southern Palestine, but 
they proved to be ungodly men and they oppressed 
the people. The Israelites demanded a king, that 
they might be ruled as other people were. Samuel 
was displeased at this and said, by wishing for a king, 
they were rejecting God. Samuel asked God about 
the matter, and was told that they should have a 
king, and also what kind of a ruler the king would 
be. But the people cried still louder for their hearts’ 
desire and their petition was granted. 

At this juncture Saul is brought into notice. We 
read that there was a man in Benjamin, a mighty man 
of power, who had a son whose name was Saul, a choice 
young man, who stood head and shoulders above any 
of his countrymen. His father’s asses having strayed 
away, Saul, with a servant, was sent in search of them. 
After wandering through many places, Saul and his 
servant came to the land of Zuph, where Saul met 
with Samuel, the prophet, who hinted to him that he 
was called of God to be king of Israel. Saul was 
astonished at this information, and made the declara¬ 
tion that he was of the smallest of the tribes of 
Israel, and his father’s family the least of that tribe. 
Here Saul is made to lie at the outset, for we have 
just read that his father was a mighty man of power. 


SAMUEL ANT) SA UL. 61 

But Samuel anointed Saul, and God gave him a new 
heart. Samuel then called all Israel together at 
Mizpeh, and . presented to them their anointed king; 
and the people shouted, “ God save the king.” After 
this Samuel dismissed the people and sent them to 
their homes; and Saul returned home to care for his 
father’s flocks. About this time Nahash, the Ammon¬ 
ite, encamped against Jabesh-Gilead, and would make 
no terms with its people, except on condition that 
he might thrust out their right eyes as a reproach 
against Israel. • The elders of Jabesh asked seven 
days respite and promised the Ammonites that if they 
could not find a man in Israel to save them within 
that time, they would submit to the disgrace. Mes¬ 
sengers were sent to Gibeah to carry the sad tidings, 
and all the people of that place wept. But Saul came 
into the city at an opportune moment, and asked, 
“ what aileth the people that they weep ? ” Being 
informed, the spirit of God came upon him, and his 
anger was kindled greatly. Whereupon, Saul hewed 
a yoke of oxen into pieces and sent them throughout 
the coasts of Israel, accompanied by a threat, that 
whoever came not after Saul and Samuel, his oxen 
should be served likewise. At this, the fear of trhe 
Lord fell upon all the people, and they came out with 
one consent; and when Saul numbered the people at 
Bezek, he found that he had an army of three hundred 
and thirty thousand warriors, a formidable force 
certainly to take against the small army of the 
Ammonites. Messengers were dispatched at once, to 
carry the glad tidings to Jabesh, that Saul would be 
there on the morrow to help them, by the heat of the 
day. The people of Jabesh rejoiced at the news and 
sent word to the Ammonites, that they would come out 
to them on the following day, that they might do to 
them whatever they desired. The morrow came, and 
before it closed, Saul had crossed the Jordan, com¬ 
pletely defeated the Ammonites and saved Israel from 
reproach. This was a marvelous thing to be accom¬ 
plished within seven days at furtherest, but the 
7 


62 


SAMUEL AND SAUL. 


narrative implies tliat it was all accomplished within 
two or three days. At this time a great portion of 
the Israelites were under the power of the Philistines, 
and it is evident that the two tribes and the one half 
tribe east of the Jordan were principally under the 
yoke of the Ammonites at the time. And how it was 
possible for Saul to raise an army of three hundred 
and thirty thousand men from the scattered forces of 
Israelites, and to lead them into Gilead and defeat an 
army all within a few days, is not easily imagined; 
and this becomes still more difficult to believe, when 
we find them two years later, crawling into their caves 
and dens to hide from their enemies. But in all 
periods of their traditional history, from the first day 
of their uprising in Egypt, till long after the estab¬ 
lishment of the kingdom, the Israelites could collect 
in a day, hundreds of thousands of soldiers where tens 
of thousands did not exist; and arm themselves with 
swords and other weapons after being stripped of 
everything for a generation, and without workshops 
where they could make the simplest tool for every day 
use. When Saul had reigned two years in Israel, he 
organized a standing army of three thousand men, 
giving the command of one thousand to his son 
Jonathan at Gibeah, and kept two thousand under his 
own control, in Michmash and in Mount Beth-el, and 
sent the rest of the people home to their tents. 
Shortly after this, Jonathan smote a Philistine garri¬ 
son in Geba; whereupon, the Philistines came up 
against Michmash with an unaccountable army of 
thirty thousand chariots, six thousand horsemen and 
a multitude of foot, equal to the sands on the sea 
shore. The Israelites are again driven to the greatest 
straits; they hide in caves, in pits, among the rocks, 
in the wilderness and wherever they can secrete 
themselves from the enemy. Others cross the Jordan 
to the land of Gad and Gilead; while others follow 
Saul to Gilgal trembling. Samuel agreed to meet 
Saul at Gilgal within seven days, but failed to do so. 
And Saul being pressed by the people and alarmed at 


SAMUEL AND SA UL. 


63 • 

the condition of things took it upon himself to offer 
sacrifices to appease the anger of God; and committed 
a great sin by so doing. And on the arrival of the 
old prophet shortly afterwards, Saul was informed 
that the kingdom had been taken from him and given 
to another—one after God’s own heart. But notwith¬ 
standing the kingdom had been rent from Saul, he 
continued to reign some thirty-eight years longer, to 
the day that he was slain in battle. And we read 
that he fought against all the enemies of Israel on 
every side, putting them to flight everywhere. But 
we have a case at hand not easy to unravel. We read 
that the Philistines had come up to Michmash with 
an army like the sands on the sea shore for multitude; 
that they had in their army thirty thousand chariots 
and six thousand horsemen; that Saul retired to 
Gibeah with only six hundred men; for the rest of 
the people were so frightened that they had crept to 
their hiding places to get away from the dreaded 
enemy. We are also told that there was not a spear 
nor a sword to be found in Israel except those found 
with Saul and Jonathan, for the Philistines would not 
allow the Hebrews to have smiths, lest they should 
make weapons of war. But why the Israelites were 
in such a condition as this, is hard to conceive; for 
only two years before this, Saul had raised an army of 
three hundred and thirty thousand men within two 
or three days, armed for battle, and with them crossed 
over the Jordan and utterly routed the Ammonites, so 
that no two were left together. It would have been 
folly for so many to cross the Jordan unarmed to meet 
an- enemy like the Ammonites; and if they crossed 
unarmed on that occasion, it was a foolish neglect on 
their part, not to pick up' the weapons of their slain 
adversaries. Still more, if Saul had, so short a time 
before, three hundred and thirty thousand men, just 
returned from a victorious field, why did he not put 
an end to the Philistine rule at once and save his 
people from the disgrace of again crawling into caves 
and dens like foxes? But the Philistines were as 


64 


SAMUEL AND SAUL. 


much masters of the field two years before as at this 
time and this is sufficient to disprove the story con¬ 
cerning his first great army. 

But we must now close our eyes to past conditions 
and look at the two unequal armies as they now face 
each other. The Philistines are at Michmash in mul¬ 
titudes, while Saul and Jonathan are at Gibeah, a few 
miles distant, at the head of a few hundred men; and 
nothing short of a miracle can enable the handful 
under Saul to conquer the multitude of Philistines. 
The miracle will be wrought, of course, and the 
enemy must fall. Jonathan stole away from his father, 

' accompanied by his armor-bearer, and attacked the 
Philistine garrison; and the two killed twenty of the 
enemy on about half an acre of ground. This daring- 
act on the part of Jonathan put the Philistines into 
such confusion that they turned their swords one 
against another, and the slaughter and confusion 
became so great that the very earth trembled. This 
gave Saul and the six hundred su(3h courage that they, 
too, went out and joined in the battle. And even 
those who had hid themselves in Mount Ephraim, 
when they learned that the battle was going against 
their enemies, came out from their dens and took part 
in the contest. The Philistines were routed and the 
battle passed over to Bethaven; and the Israelites 
smote the Philistines that day from Michmash to Aija- 
lon. It appears that Saul gave orders to his men before 
they joined in the battle that no one must touch food 
that day, except under peril of death. But Jonathan 
was already fighting when the order was given, there¬ 
fore he knew nothing about it; and on his return 
from the slaughter he tasted a little honey that he 
found on the way. It appears that Jonathan was a 
favorite among the soldiers, and no one would tell if 
he did taste a little honey after killing so many Philis¬ 
tines; and they all knew that Jonathan had done much 
more to defeat the enemy than his father had. But 
in those days, when such men as Saul could talk with 
God about every-day affairs, secrets would come out, 


SAMUEL AND SAUL. 


65 


and Jonathan’s was not an exception. Saul had 
become very brave since the victory had been gained, 
and, like a good general, he thought it would be a 
wise movement to follow up the advantage already 
gained. But before venturing on so perilous a task, 
he thought it prudent to get a little advice from head¬ 
quarters. He inquired if he should go after the 
Philistines; and if he went would God give them into 
the hands of Israel? But God gave him no answer; 
therefore Saul knew that a sin had been committed. 
Saul ordered a division in the army, and the people 
went on one side and Saul and Jonathan on the other; 
and when the lot was cast Jonathan was taken; and 
Saul declared that his son should die for the sin of 
eating a little honey. But the people declared that 
Jonathan should not die; and Saul had to abide by 
their decision. And he also concluded not to follow 
the Philistines. So they went to their own place 
without further molestation. 

The old prophet, Samuel, got pretty mad at Saul 
for presuming to offer up the offerings at Gilgal in his 
absence and kept himself aloof from the king for 
some time. But some few years later the old prophet 
addressed Saul and told him to listen to the words of 
the Lord, who commanded that he should go and 
destroy the Amalekites, together with everything they 
had, men, women and children, and every animal 
they possessed, and to spare nothing. Saul collected 
an army and found that he had at his command two 
hundred and ten thousand men. This war against 
Amalek was on account of an old grudge that God 
had held against that nation ever since the Israelites 
came from Egypt; for he declared then that He 
would war with them from generation to generation. 
But the Amalekites had certainiy had a long rest, 
and must have recuperated considerably in the course 
of four or five centuries. Saul invaded their country 
and destroyed everything, from Avilah to the borders 
of Egypt, except the best of their animals and their 
king. These he took alive and brought to Gilgal. 

7* 


66 SAMUEL AND SAUL . 

This certainly was making a pretty clean sweep of a 
nation. Bnt to make events coincide with the edicts 
that the God of the Jews had sent forth, it was as 
necessary to get rid of the Amalekites as it is to get 
rid of a had character in any romance; therefore to 
kill them all olf at once was the easiest way; and it 
was necessary to do this before the age arrived when 
historians would live contemporary with the events 
they would write about. But had such an event 
actually taken place, I mistrust that the Israelites 
would have felt, at once, a weightier hand than 
they had any dealing with beforetimes, and which 
they did feel, to their sorrow, two or three generations 
later. Egypt, in the days of Saul, was prosperous 
and powerful; and had a little neighbor of hers been 
thus destroyed she would have felt that an enemy 
that ventured so near to her own doors was worth 
looking after; and the Jews might have had enough 
to do to take care of themselves for the next hundred 
years without spending so much time in building a 
temple that was easily sacked by the Egyptians so 
shortly after it was completed. Although we are told 
in the above tradition that the Amalekites were 
destroyed to a man, by another story, equally true, 
we find it was not the case; some of the Amalekites 
must have hid in caves, as the Jews were wont to do 
in times of distress; for we find them, some twenty 
years later, entering the territories of Judah and 
Philistia, and carrying off a great amount of booty, 
including David’s wives. But returning to Saul, 
we find him at Gilgal with the booty that he has 
taken from the Amalekites, including Agag, their 
king. Saul salutes the old prophet with the words: 
“Blessed be thou of the Lord;” and tells him that 
he has performed the work that he was commanded 
to do. But Samuel asks, “ What meaneth then this 
bleating of sheep and lowing of oxen which I hear ? ” 
Saul charges the blame on the people, but Samuel is 
inexorable. He tells Saul what God said to him on 
the previous night in regard to the kingdom* The 


SAMUEL , SA UL AND DA VID. 


67 


kingdom has been rent from Saul and given to one 
better than he. But as this had been done some 
twenty years before, on account of other sins, it could 
be no news to Saul at this time. 

What became of the sheep and oxen, we are not 
told, but the old prophet, after commanding the 
people to bring out Agag before him, hewed him to 
pieces in the presence of God at Gilgal. Samuel then 
left Saul and went to his home in Hamah and Saul 
went to Gibeah; and the prophet went no more to see 
. Saul to the day of his death. 


GHAPTEK XI. 


SAMUEL, SAUL AND DAVID. 

The chronology of this period is uncertain, and we 
drift along from one event to another without 
knowing much about what time elapsed between them. 

But some years after Samuel parted from Saul at 
Gilgal, the Lord roused him from his grief for the 
disobedient king, and told him to fill his horn with 
oil, and go and anoint another man king whom he 
had chosen. 

It would not have been in accord with the age, for 
the author of the First Book of Samuel to have 
introduced a man like David without tracing his 
origin back to some remarkable event. Therefore, we 
are carried back three or four generations to his 
great-grand parents in the persons of Boaz the 
Bphrathite, and Ruth, the Moabitish woman. This 
interesting story is found in the book of Ruth. 




68 


SAMUEL , SAUL AND DAVID. 


Samuel went to Bethlehem and anointed David, 
Jesse’s youngest son, who kept his father’s flocks. He 
did this, we are told, in the presence of David’s father 
and brothers and the elders of the city. But no one 
could have known what it meant at the time, for a 
few months later, no one seemed to know anything 
about it. As soon as David was anointed, the spirit 
of the Lord came upon him and remained with him 
from that day forward. After this, the old prophet 
returned to Ramah, and the spirit of God departed 
from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled 
him. Saul’s servants conceived the idea that if some 
man, who was a cunning player on the harp, could be 
found to play before Saul when he had these troubled 
spells, the music might relieve him. They broached 
the matter to the king, and the idea pleased him; and 
Saul told them to find such a man and bring him at 
once. Then said one of the servants, “ I have seen a 
son* of Jesse the Bethlehemite, that is cunning in 
playing, and a mighty valiant man, and a man of war 
and prudent in matters, and a comely person, and the 
Lord is with him.” Saul sent messengers to Jesse 
requesting him to send his son David who tended the 
sheep. David went to Saul and became his armor- 
bearer ; and when the evil spirit from God came upon 
Saul, David played on his harp and the evil spirit 
would then depart and Saul would feel refreshed and 
well. Now, it is reasonable to suppose that Saul and 
those around him became well acquainted with David 
and knew him well by daily intercourse of this 
character. But in this, we are disappointed; for we 
find them meeting under other circumstances a few 
months later, as entire strangers. This is sufficient 
to prove that the two stories were written by different 
authors, and as one must be untrue, neither of them 
are of much value in any light; and much less in a 
divine light. In the event that comes first in point of 
time, David is represented as a valiant man of war 
and prudent in matters; in the second, he is described 
as a mere youth and chided by his older brothers for 


SAMUEL , SA UL AND DA VID. 


69 


asking questions about Goliath the Philistine giant. 
Almost immediately after the time that David played 
on his harp to amuse Saul, the Philistines raised an 
army and marched into the country of Judah; and 
Saul marched with an army to oppose them. Each 
army was encamped on a hill, a valley lying between 
the two armies. Jesse had three sons in Saul’s army, 
all of course older than David, who had returned 
home to keep his father’s sheep. While the two 
armies were thus facing each other, and neither dared 
to make an attack, Goliath, a Philistine warrior of 
immense stature, walked out between the two armies 
each day for forty days and challenged Israel to send 
a man to fight with him. But no man in Saul’s 
army dared to meet him; and Saul and his army were 
dismayed and afraid of the Philistines. It so hap¬ 
pened that while the Israelites were in such a dilemma, 
Jesse sent his son David to the camp to take some 
refreshments to his brothers, and to inquire about 
their welfare. And while David was talking with his . 
brothers, the Philistine champion came out and 
challenged the Israelites as usual. Some of the 
bystanders told David that any man who would kill 
the Philistine, Saul would enrich and give him his 
daughter to wife. David made some remarks imply¬ 
ing that he would kill the giant, and his words were 
soon rehearsed to Saul who sent for him. But when 
Saul saw that David was but a youth, he told him 
that he would not be able to fight the Philistine. But 
David replied that he had killed a lion and a bear 
while they were preying on his father’s sheep, and he 
thought Goliath would be a no worse antagonist than 
either one of them. Whereupon, Saul bids him try 
it, with a God speed. David meets his scornful 
antagonist with nothing but a sling and a few pebbles, 
one of which he sinks into the Philistine’s head. 
The champion falls and David runs and cuts oft’ his 
head and the victory is gained. When the Philistines 
saw that their champion was slain, they fled for their 
lives. The men of Israel pursued after them and 


70 


SAMUEL , SAUL AND DAVID. 


smote great numbers until they reached the cities of 
Gath and Ekron. 

When Saul saw David go forth he asked Abner, 
his captain, whose son the youth was. But Abner 
replied, “ As thy soul liveth, 0 King! I cannot tell.” 
Saul recpiested Abner to inquire whose son the strip¬ 
ling was, as David returned from killing the Philis¬ 
tine. Abner conducted David to Saul, with the head 
of the giant in his hand; and Saul said to him, 
“Whose son art thou, thou young man?” And David 
answered, “I am the son of thy servant, Jesse, the 
Bethlehemite.” We have seen on a former occasion, 
where Saul’s servant spoke of David as a valiant man 
of war and a cunning player on the harp. He was 
brought before Saul to play on the harp, by which 
playing Saul’s evil spirit was driven away. We are 
also told that Saul became very fond of David, and 
retained him some time, and made him his armor- 
bearer. Abner and other of Saul’s servants must, 
under these circumstances, have become well ac¬ 
quainted with David, and Saul must have known him 
well, for David could not have returned home more 
than a few weeks, at furtherest, before this battle with 
the Philistines. Yet, despite all this, we find that 
when he slew Goliath, neither Saul nor any of his 
servants knew anything about David. One or the 
other of these stories is false; and one being false the 
other is worthless, except to teach us that the authors 
of them were dealing with disconnected traditional 
tales. While David was telling Saul whose son he 
was, Jonathan’s soul became knit with David’s, and 
henceforward we find the two men bound together by 
the strongest ties. 

But David’s path was not yet to be strewn with 
flowers, for no sooner had David become the champion 
in Israel than a feeling of intense jealousy and hatred 
toward him took possession of Saul; and thencefor¬ 
ward it was continued strife between the two; Saul 
trying to put an end to David and the latter trying to 
save himself. 


SAMUEL , SAUL AND DAVID. 


71 


This jealousy was produced in Saul by the women 
in the cities along the line of march, as Saul’s army 
returned home from the victory over the Philistines. 
The women of these cities came out with their instru¬ 
ments of music and sang by the w r ayside, saying, 
“ Saul slew his thousands, but David slew his ten 
thousands.” This, of course, would have created 
jealousy in any king, and Saul could not be expected 
to be an exception to the general rule. “And Saul 
eyed David from that day forward.” 

Now, Saul had agreed to give one of his daughters 
to wife to the man that would kill Goliath. And 
after David had slain the champion the king promised 
him Merab, his eldest daughter. But on the day that 
she was to become David’s wife, Saul gave her to 
another man. But Michal, Saul’s youngest daughter, 
loved David, and this pleased her father who promised 
to give her to David on certain conditions. These 
conditions may be found in the eighteenth chapter of 
First Samuel. Saul felt assured that David would be 
killed by the Philistines, while trying to meet the 
conditions required of him. But David was not the 
man to be thwarted by little difficulties; therefore he 
went with some of the soldiers under his command 
and slew two hundred Philistines and secured a 
double amount of trophies and presented them to 
his master. And Saul gave Michal to him to wife. 
David did not live long with the wife that he had 
purchased by blood before he had to leave her: and 
thenceforward, for four or five years, he carried on a 
kind of guerilla warfare, and at times acted the part 
of a bandit. Saul was continually on David’s tracks, 
trying to capture him, that he might put him to 
death; but David kept on his guard and avoided him. 

In two or three instances Saul fell into David’s 
hands, and the latter could have taken Saul’s life if 
he desired so to do. And on each of these occasions 
David showed Saul how God had put him into his 
hands, yet he harmed him not. At these times Saul 
would be very penitent and make fine promises to 


72 


SAMUEL, SAUL AND DAVID. 


David and call him his dear son, but the latter always 
kept his distance and gave the king no advantage over 
him David, also, would act very humble at these 
times and called himself a dog and a flea to his 
master, and plead that he was of so small account, 
that he was unworthy to be hunted down by the king. 
In this we see a wretched picture of the first two 
anointed of the Lord in Israel; they are at swords’ 
points, the one chasing the other, from one hiding- 
place to another. In the early part of this affair 
between God’s anointed, David went to Nob, and by 
false misrepresentation procured of Ahimelech, the 
priest, a few loaves of bread and the sword of Goliath. 
This act of deception, on the part of David, cost 
Ahimelech his life, together with seventy-four other 
priests of his own house. David made good his 
escape into the land of the Philistines to Achish, 
king of Gath. The servants of Achish mistrusted 
David and the latter feared for his life. David again 
used deception and played the madman and the king 
let him go. David then went to the cave Adullam, 
and while there he recruited a company of about four 
hundred men, fit subjects to follow a leader like David 
into predatory warfare. We are told that they were 
men who were in distress, in debt, and those, who were 
discontented ; just such men as have been ready to 
follow such a leader in all ages, ready for anything 
but lawful pursuits. This class of men flocked to 
David’s standard at the cave Adullam, and followed 
their chieftain through scenes of blood and robbery 
that would be a disgrace even to a bandit in any age; 
and much more so to the Lord’s anointed. In the 
meantime the old prophet, Samuel, died and was 
buried in Ramah. Some may claim that David was 
justified in all that he did, because he preyed upon 
the enemies of Israel. But let us see if this prin¬ 
ciple guided him at all times. After Samuel’s 
death he went to the wilderness Paran, and abode in 
the mountains with his men for some months; and 
while there he must have been short of provisions; for 


SAMUEL , SAUL AND DAVID. 


73 


hearing that Nabal, a wealthy man, was shearing 
sheep at Carmel, he sent ten of his young men down 
on a begging expedition. We are "told that Nabal 
was a churlish fellow and refused to give the young 
men anything; and when they returned and reported 
to David it raised his anger and he vowed vengeance 
on Nabal and on all connected with him. It appears 
that David had no other claim on Nabal’s generosity 
than that his men had not stolen from Nabal’s flocks 
while they were feeding that season in the vicinity 
where David and his men were encamped. David also 
implies in his vow of vengeance that his men had 
kept other marauders from preying upon them. 

Now, this was all well and good, and admitting it 
to be the case, it would have been nothing more than 
right for Nabal to have sent the chieftain something, 
out of his abundance, in time of need. But when 
Nabal refused to do so, David had no right to enforce 
his demand at the point of the sword and much less 
to kill Nabal and all his men., Nabal probably 
looked upon David and his men as a band of out-laws, 
having no right to interfere with him. Saul was the 
anointed king and the constituted ruler in Israel at 
the time, and any band of men who were prowling 
about against the authority of the king, were looked 
upon as rebels and bandits. Nevertheless, David 
unsheathed his swords and started down to Carmel 
with the intention of killing Nabal and all that 
pertained to him, before morning. But one of the 
men in Nabal’s employ, who probably knew David 
better than his master did, and fearing the conse¬ 
quences of Nabal’s refusal to give food to David’s men, 
told Abigail, Nabal’s wife, how matters stood; and 
Abigail packed up a goodly supply of provisions and 
went and met David on his way to the slaughter. 
Abigail pacified David and he agreed to withhold his 
hand and declared it was an intervention of God in 
his behalf; and that God would lay his hand upon 
Nabal and destroy him. But we are told that 
Abigail was a beautiful woman; and she evidently 
8 


74 


SAMUEL , SAUL AND DAVID. 


captivated David at this interview. And while it 
might not he a Uriah affair, we may be pardoned for 
viewing it with a little suspicion, as Nabal died within 
ten days, and the charming Abigail became David’s 
wife. Soon after the affair with Nabal, David was 
disturbed in his mountain retreat; for some of the 
inhabitants, who had probably suffered loss by David’s 
band of marauders, went to Gibeah and informed the 
king where the chieftain and his band were. Saul 
took three thousand chosen men and went to the 
wilderness where David abode; but the latter, as 
usual, was on his guard and kept out of Saul’s hands. 
Feeling now that he was harrassed continually and 
driven from place to place, and fearing that the king 
would sometime capture him, David concluded to go 
to the land of their hereditary enemies, the Philis¬ 
tines. He went there with six hundred men and was 
received kindly by Achish, king of Gath. David and 
his men dwelt there with their wives and families; 
but the chieftain could not bear an inactive life and 
felt that he was too much cooped up in the royal city; 
so he asked the king to give him a place in some town 
in the country. The king granted his request, and 
gave him Ziklag, which from that time continued in 
the possession of the kings of Judah. David and his 
band lived in the country of the Philistines one year 
and four months, daring which time they amused 
themselves by making raids into industrious and 
peaceable communities, killing the inhabitants and 
carrying away the booty they captured, for the support 
of themselves and families. They made these preda¬ 
tory excursions into the countries of the Geshurites, 
the Gezites, and the Amalekites, and left neither man, 
woman nor child alive. They took away the sheep 
and oxen, and all other animals and things, that 
would be of use to them and returned home delighted 
with what they had done. Achish the king asked 
David one day on his return from one of these raids, 
“ Whither have ye made a road to-day”? David, in 
reply, did not tell the king just what he had done, 


SAMUEL , SA UL AND DA VID. 


75 


but deceived him a little. David always kept in mind 
the old adage, “ Dead men tell no tales,” and in his 
wisdom he thought it best, on these occasions, to leave 
no one alive to inform the Philistines of what he had 
done. But the time came again when the Philistines 
gathered their armies together to fight against Israel. 
And Achish told David that he should go to battle 
with him. David seemed to be pleased with the idea, 
and told the king that he should know what he could 
do; therefore, the king of Gath told David that he 
should be keeper of his head forever. But David’s 
remarks to the king were evidently meant to deceive 
him, for he had no thought of being the keeper of 
the head of any Philistine, but meant to take one off 
whenever the proper time came. Nevertheless David 
and his men marched in the rear of the Philistine 
army in company with Achish. But the rest of the 
Philistine princes had but little faith in David’s 
sincerity, and they compelled Achish to send him 
back. David and his men returned to Ziklag only to 
find that in their absence the Amalekites had been to 
Ziklag and burned it and carried away the families 
captive. Unlike David in his raids, the Amalekites 
had killed no one, but carried the families away 
uninjured. We read that when David -and his men 
got back to Ziklag and saw what mischief had been 
done, they wept until they could weep no longer. 
Poor fellows! Did they remember how many homes 
they themselves had made desolate ? Did they remem¬ 
ber how they had, a few months before, made desolate 
the country of the Amalekites, killing men, women 
and children without regard for age or condition ? 
Did they remember that mercy had never guided them 
for a moment in a single act of theirs ? Yet, David 
and his blood-stained companions stood and wept over 
the comparatively mild treatment their families had 
received, until they could weep no longer. David 
was greatly distressed, for his companions threatened 
to stone him. But David trusted in the Lord, and 
told his priest to bring him the ephod that he might 


76 


SAMUEL , SAUL AND DAVID. 


inquire of God what to do in this emergency. God 
told him to pursue after the Amalekites and that he . 
should overtake them and recover all. 

Thus encouraged, David and the six hundred men 
pursued and overtook the enemy and slew all of them, 
except four hundred young men, who made their 
escape on camels. David recovered everything, even 
to his two wives, and returned to Ziklag. In the 
meantime the Philistines pitched their camp ini 
Shunem and Saul pitched in Gilboa. And when Saul 
saw the Philistine army his heart trembled and he 
was greatly afraid. He inquired of the Lord, but got 
no answer by dreams, nor by vision, nor by prophets. 
Saul was driven to the greatest straits; God would 
have nothing more to do with him. There was no 
prophet living that amounted to anything, and, pre¬ 
vious to this, Saul had put to death all the wizards 
and those who had familiar spirits; and by this act 
he had deprived himself of all means by which he 
could gain any knowledge of the mysterious future. 
But in his extreme distress Saul bethought him that 
there might possibly be a witch left who had escaped 
his vigilance. Accordingly he enquired of his ser¬ 
vants, and was informed that a woman lived at Endor, 
whereupon Saul and two of his men, dressed in 
disguise, visited the woman by night, and Saul 
requested her to bring up a spirit that he should 
name. But the witch, fearing that he was trying to 
entrap her, told him how Saul had put the witches to 
death. Saul, therefore, promised that no harm should 
befall her if she would do as he requested. With 
this assurance, the witch raised up Samuel, who, at 
once, reproached Saul for disquieting him, and he 
pronounced his doom. He told Saul that he and his 
sons should fall by the Philistines on the morrow, 
and that the Israelitish army would also fall into the 
hands of the enemy. “ The kingdom,” said the old 
prophet,” “is rent from you and given to David, and 
you and your sons shall be with me to-morrow.” 
Saul, at this news, fell faint upon the ground, for he 


SAMUEL , SAUL AND DAVID. 


77 


was hungry. The witch, happening to have the 
fatted calf, killed it and prepared a meal for the three 
men, one of whom she had discovered was the king. 
After refreshing themselves Saul and his companions 
went their way and returned to the army. The Phil¬ 
istines soon made an attack and became masters of 
the field. Great numbers of the Israelites fell on 
every side. Jonathan and two of his brothers were 
slain. Saul was hit by the archers and severely 
wounded; and seeing that there was no chance for 
life, and dreading to fall into the hands of the Philis¬ 
tines alive, he told his armor-bearer to thrust him 
through with his sword. But his armor-bearer would 
not; therefore Saul fell upon his own sword and soon 
expired. The armor-bearer saw his master die and 
then followed his example by falling upon his own 
sword. 

Thus, we read, the Lord’s first anointed in Israel fell 
and three of his sons in one day, after a reign of forty 
years. Saul is pictured to us as a man of immense 
stature, comely in person, and at times showing a 
great amount of executive ability; but at other times 
wanting in decision. The greatest, and almost the 
only charges brought against him, were, first, for 
offering up burnt-offerings at Gilgal in the absence of 
Samuel; and secondly, for sparing the king of the 
Amalekites and the best of the flocks taken in that 
war. For these offenses the kingdom was rent from 
Saul and given to David. This provoked Saul to 
jealously toward David, and thenceforward, to Saul’s 
death, but little was done aside from the chase of 
one of the Lord’s anointed after the other. But 
although the old prophet and God rejected Saul and 
withdrew from him, the latter was of far better 
habits than his successor. 

We have already seen that Saul, after being wounded 
by the Philistines, fell upon his own sword and died 
in the presence of his armor-bearer. We are now 
told another story about the death of the king, by a 
young Amalekite, who fled from the field of battle to 
8 * 


78 


SAMUEL , SAUL AND DAVID. 


Ziklag, and carried the news to David. This young 
man happened to be on Mount Gilboa and saw Saul 
after he was wounded, leaning upon his spear. Saul 
called to him and begged him to put an end to his 
life, for he did not want to fall into the hands of the 
Philistines alive. The young man saw that the king 
could not live, and acted as he was requested to do, 
and put an end to SauPs life at once. The young 
man then took the crown from Saul’s head, and the 
bracelet off his arm, and made his escape and ran to 
Ziklag and presented them to David, and, at the same 
time, told him the news of the defeat of Israel. 
David condemned the young man for the act of 
shortening the dying moments of Saul, which had 
already begun, and ordered one of his men to slay him. 
This was the first act of David after the way was 
opened for him to be undisputed king. It was char¬ 
acteristic of the man who delighted in shedding 
blood. It was a stroke of policy on his part to warn 
men not to lay violent hands on God’s anointed under 
any circumstances. We have been told of several 
instances where, by a stroke of the sword, David could 
have rid himself of Saul, his deadly enemy; but in 
every instance he would allow no harm done to hinn 
In all these cases he acted on policy; for, knowing 
that Samuel had anointed him to succeed Saul, he 
wished to educate the people to look upon the anointed 
as being too sacred to be molested by mortals. The 
young man who put an end to Saul’s miseries doubt¬ 
less thought, in the tumult of battle, that he was 
doing a favor to Saul, and no less to Israel, in saving 
the king from falling into the hands of the Philistines 
alive; and it was no less cowardly than rash in David 
to order him slain, simply because he had the power 
to do it, 


DA VID BECOMES KING. 


79 


CHAPTER XII. 


DAVID BECOMES KING. 

After David had received the news of the defeat of 
Israel and death of Saul, he inquired of the Lord 
whether he should go up into one of the cities of 
Judah; and the Lord told him to go. David then 
asked, what city? and the Lord said, to Hebron. To 
Hebron he went and the men of Judah came together 
and anointed him king over that tribe. But why 
the men of Judah should anoint him king over their 
own tribe is not very plain. David had been anointed 
king over all Israel, by Samuel, many years before, 
but this seems to have been forgotton by every body, 
and David’s right to the kingdom seemed to be by 
conquest rather than God-given. 

But there is another important feature in * this 
connection, that looks dark enough for legend in any 
age. David and his six hundred men had been living 
on Philistine territory for a year and four months; 
and although Achish, king of Gath, was a friend to 
David, the other* four kings, or lords, were his bitter 
enemies. And the Philistines, after gaining a com¬ 
plete victory over the Israelites at Gilboa, would not 
neglect to look after an enemy at once, that they had 
left in their own country; and especially when they 
knew that that enemy aspired to the kingdom of Israel. 
But according to the narrative, David was left to 
remove into Judah, with his men and their families at 
pleasure, unmolested; and we hear nothing more about 
the Philistines for years. 

After David got settled in Hebron, he took every 
precaution possible to pave his way smoothly into 
Israel; and left nothing undone, that he thought 
would help to open his way to the entire kingdom. 



80 


DA V1D BECOMES KINO . 


He tried to show the people that he had unbounded 
sympathy for the late king’s family; and by slaying 
the young Amalekite for having put an end to Saul’s 
life, David doubtless thought that he would find the 
first stepping-stone to power. He also distributed 
among the communities in various parts, a great 
amount of the booty that he had so recently taken 
from the Amalekites, and sent his messages of thanks 
to the men of Jabesh-Gilead for recovering the bodies 
of Saul and his sons, and for giving them a proper 
burial. These acts had their influence and helped to 
win the hearts of the adherents to the late king’s 
family. At the same time, David did not forget to 
remind the people east of the Jordan, that their late 
master was dead, and that the tribe of Judah had 
anointed him king. In the meantime, Abner, captain 
of the late king’s army, made Ish-bosheth, son of 
Saul, king over all Israel, outside of the tribe of 
Judah. Civil war soon broke out between David and 
Ish-bosheth; but the exact time and cause of the war 
is left to our imagination; for the first intimation we 
have of it, is when we are told that Abner and Joab 
met at the pool of Gibeon and let twelve of their 
men, ou each side, join in deadly conflict, each taking 
his fellow by the head, and each thrusting his sword 
through his fellow’s side, so that the twenty-four 
men all died. 

It appears that each captain had his army there 
and the fight became general. Abner was defeated 
and driven from the field, and the battle seems to have 
become a chase of one army after the other. Joab, 
David’s captain, had two brothers in the engagement, 
and one of them was sw'ift on foot; and this one took 
after Abner, and would not turn aside to the right 
nor to the left at the latter’s warning; therefore, 
Abner smote him under the fifth rib with his spear, 
so that it came out of his back and he died. Joab 
and his remaining brother them ran after Abner, but 
the men of Benjamin collected in a body about him 
for protection, and the two captains made terms; and 


DA VID BECOMES KING. 


81 


the armies separated and went to their places. It 
appears that only nineteen of David’s men were 
lacking after this engagement, while no less than 
three hundred and sixty of Abner’s men were slain. 
We read that there was a long war between the house 
of Saul and the house of David, but the house of 
David waxed stronger and the house of Saul waxed 
weaker. 

This war had lasted about three years when, it 
appears, Ish-bosheth rebuked Abner for having appro¬ 
priated one of the late king’s concubines. This raised 
Abner’s anger, and he set to work at once to turn 
over the kingdom into David’s hands. Abner sent 
messengers to David inviting an interview; but David 
had begun to feel his power, and would meet Abner 
only on condition that he should bring with him 
Michal, Saul’s daughter, who was given to another 
man after David made his escape from Saul. It 
would seem that Michal’s present husband had the 
best right to her, for she had been given to him by 
her father after David deserted her; and it appears 
that he loved her, for he followed after her, weeping, 
until Abner drove him back. But David cared 
nothing about justice toward others when justice 
clashed with his own desire for wives. At that time 
he wanted Michal, and Abner returned her to him 
according to request. On his way to Hebron, Abner 
harangued the elders of Israel and the people of 
Benjamin, telling them that they sought David in 
former times,' and now they must take him. On 
Abner’s arrival at Hebron, David made a feast for him 
and his men, and Abner promised that he would go 
and gather all Israel to David’s standard. Shortly 
after Abner left Hebron, Joab returned from chasing 
a troop of men, and on learning that Abner had 
been there to see the king and had gone away in 
peace, he rebuked David for having let Abner go. 
He claimed that the latter had been there to deceive 
the king, and to learn what he could about David’s 
movements. Unbeknown to David, Joab sent messen- 


82 


DA VID BECOMES KING. 


gers after Abner to recall him to Hebron. On his 
return to the city Joab took him aside, pretending 
that he wanted to speak with him quietly; but no 
sooner were they alone, than Joab smote Abner under 
the fifth rib and slew him, for having killed Iiis 
brother in the chase, as related above. David showed 
grief for Abner, as he had done for Saul, and satisfied 
the people that he had no hand in killing him. And 
in this way he crept still further into the hearts of 
the Israelites. David also pronounced a curse, at 
the same time, on the house of Joab. What Abner’s 
real intentions were when he went to Hebron to see 
David no one can tell; and as his career was brought 
suddenly to a close by the treacherous act of Joab 
they can never be revealed. Ish-bosheth still lived; 
but without Abner he was powerless to sustain himself 
on the throne; and on hearing of the death of his 
captain his hands were feeble and his adherents were 
troubled. Ish-bosheth had two men who were cap¬ 
tains of bands, and when the news of Abner’s death 
reached them they went and slew their master, cut off 
his head and carried it to David. This treacherous 
act cost the two men their lives, for David justly 
ordered them slain. 

This event gave David another opportunity to show 
his sympathy for Saul’s family, as well as to take 
another step to power. But we can hardly believe 
that his weeping and mourning were coupled with 
much real grief, when we consider the sarcastic 
remarks he made to Michal his wife, and daughter of 
Saul, when she told him how glorious he appeared in 
leaping and dancing, on the day that he brought up 
the ark into the city of David. After the death of 
Ish-bosheth, Saul’s last son, the gates of the entire 
kingdom were thrown wide open to David. The 
elders of all the tribes came to Hebron, and they 
anointed him king over all Israel. This was David’s 
third anointment; once by Samuel, again by Judah, 
and now by united Israel. We read that David was 
thirty years old when he began to reign, and reigned 


DA VID BECOMES KING. 


83 


seven years in. Hebron and thirty-three years in 
Jerusalem. According to this statement, David was 
only thirty years old at Saul’s death, and consequently 
could not have been born till Saul had reigned ten 
years. Yet, when Saul had reigned only two years, 
he offended God at Gilgal, and one after God’s own 
heart was chosen to succeed him in the kingdom; and 
that one was David. Furthermore, as already shown, 
David was described by Saul’s servant, as a valiant 
man of war, at a time when Saul had reigned only 
twenty or twenty-two years, and it was about that 
time that he killed the Philistine champion. There¬ 
fore, viewing these stories in whatever light we may, 
we find no agreement in them whatever, but the 
grossest contradictions. 

As soon as David became king of Israel, he made 
an attempt to take Jerusalem, but the city was too 
strong to be taken at once. However, he took the 
stronghold of Zion and called it the city of David. 
On that day, David said, “ Whoever getteth up to the 
gutter, and smiteth the Jebusites, and the lame, and 
the blind, that are hated of David’s soul, he shall be 
chief and captain.” A strange record, this, of a man 
after God’s own heart. Why should any man hate 
these poor unfortunate and afflicted creatures, whose 
disabilities and helpless condition should call forth 
pity and sympathy from any man, much more from the 
man after God’s own heart? After David had taken 
the fort, he began to build round about it, knowing 
that the capture of the city would be only a matter of 
time. The city was built on the strongest site that 
could be found in Palestine, and once in his posses¬ 
sion, David knew that he could make it impregnable 
to any ordinary enemy. 

It appears that David’s fame had reached Hiram, 
king of Tyre. But how the intercourse was brought 
about between the two rulers, we are not told; but to 
aid David in his building operations, Hiram sent him 
cedar trees, and carpenters and masons, to build him 
a house. We see by this, that the Israelites were yet 


84 


DAVID BECOMES KING. 


in a rude state, not having ordinary mechanics among 
them 

David now began to plunge into those sensual 
practices that culminated in a harem that surpassed 
anything of the kind known before, and which 
blackened the character already dyed in too much 
innocent blood; the sanction of which infamy, is 
imputed to God. When the Philistines heard that 
David had been anointed king of Israel, they came up 
against him and were defeated; and again they came 
up, and again were driven from the field. The ark 
was still at Gibeah where Saul had placed it, and 
David collected the new men of Israel together to 
remove it to the city of David. But this was not 
done at once, for as Uzzali put forth his hand to steady 
it, God smote him and he died. So David was afraid 
that day and left the ark at the house of Obed-edom 
for three months; at the end of which time, it was 
taken to the city of David. It was at this time that 
Michal, Saul’s daughter, laughed at his seeming folly. 

We learn little more about David until we find him 
cosily taking rest in bis new house. Whom he has 
warred with of late we are not told; but all of his 
enemies have been subdued, and the king is resting 
from his past labors. But as he has attained to the 
dignity of living in a house of cedar, he contemplates 
building a house for the ark of God to dwell in. A 
new prophet now appears on the scene and tells David 
to do all that his heart desires. God then delivers a 
long message to David, through the prophet, and 
promises to continue and sustain him and his family 
in the kingdom for a long time to come. But imme¬ 
diately after we are assured that God has given David 
rest from all his enemies the war-cloud spreads to every 
quarter. The ever alert Philistines are first on the 
war-path but are smitten; and this victory is followed 
by the defeat of the Moabites. Then follows the 
victories over the king of Zobah and the Syrians of 
Damascus. The king of Hamath sends his son to 
salute David and to give him presents. David reaches 


DA VID BECOMES KING. 


85 


the Euphrates and plants garrisons in every quarter 
and his sons become chief rulers among the people. 
David now surpasses any ruler that Israel has had 
heretofore and receives tribute Irom a number of 
kings whom he has conquered. He now inquires if 
any of Saul’s sons still live that he may do them a 
kindness. He is informed that Mephibosheth, Jona¬ 
than’s son, is yet alive. He sends for him and lets 
him eat continually at the king’s' table and restored 
to him all the estate of his father. 

About this time, David sent his servants to Hanun, 
king of Ammon, to comfort him on the death of 
Nabash his father, because the latter had showed 
kindness to David in former days. But the princes 
of Ammon mistrusted David’s intentions, believing he 
had a design on their city. Wherefore, Hanun 
shaved off one side of the beard of each of David’s 
servants, and cutoff one side of their clothing, and 
in this condition, sent them away. The Ammonites 
knew well that the king of Israel would resent this 
insult, so they made allies of the Syrians, who came 
to their aid in strong force. David did not disap¬ 
point the Ammonites in his resentment of the insult, 
but sent his host at once, under the command of Joab 
and Joab’s brother, who defeated the Svrians and 
drove the Ammonites into their city. The Syrians 
soon raised a still greater army and returned to help 
the Ammonites. David, on learning this, collected 
the mighty men of Israel together, and the army 
crossed the Jordan and again defeated the Syrians, 
killing all the men of seven hundred chariots and 
forty thousand horsemen. The kings who had been 
servants to the Syrians, now made peace with David 
and served him. 

This brings us to an event, one of the blackest 
among David’s dark deeds. It stands out so black, 
that even David’s God is displeased at it. The king 
sent his captain Joab Avith an army to destroy the 
Ammonites, but he remained at home; and it so 
happened one eA T ening that David arose from his bed 
9 


86 


DA VI1) BECOMES KING. 


and walked on the roof of the king’s house, probably 
to take the fresh air and to meditate on his greatness; 
when, lo! and behold, he espied a beautiful woman 
bathing a little distance away. Her figure appeared 
very beautiful to him, and he could not resist the 
temptation, nor forego the pleasure within his reach. 
He inquired about this charming woman, and was 
informed that she was Bath-slieba, the wife of Uriah, 
a soldier at that time in the king’s army, helping to 
destroy the Ammonites. David sent messengers to 
take Bath-sheba, and they brought her to the king’s 
house. 

David then committed the crime of adultery with 
Bath-sheba, which crime, according to the Mosaic 
law, was punishable by the offender being stoned to 
death. But in those days the Mosaic law could 
scarcely have been in force, for we read nothing about 
it. But whether the Mosaic law did or did not exist 
at that time, David committed the crime, and when he 
could not cover it up by deception, he added to it the 
blood of Uriah. By David’s criminal intercourse 
with Bath-sheba she became pregnant; and then, to 
try to hide his guilt and to save her from shame, he 
sent to the army to have Uriah come home for a few 
days, thinking the brave warrior would go home and 
lodge at his own house. But Uriah refused to comply 
with the king’s request, and slept at the king’s door 
with his servants. The next day, David tried to 
persuade Uriah to sleep at his own house on the 
following night; but the old warrior protested that 
he could not do so while his comrades in the army and 
his captain, Joab, had to camp in the open fields. 
David bid Uriah to tarry in Jerusalem one more day, 
and called him in to eat and drink before the king. 
And David made Uriah drunk, but all to no effect; 
for instead of going to his own house to sleep, as the 
king thought he would, Uriah again slept with the 
servants. Thwarted in every way, David sent the 
faithful soldier back to the camp, making him the 
bearer of a letter to Joab, that instructed the latter to 


DA VID BECOMES KINO. 


87 


place Uriah in the hottest of the battle, so as to make 
his death sore. This was done, and Uriah was slain 
as was expected; and Bath-sheba added one more to 
David’s already long list of wives. 

We read that God was displeased with this double 
crime of the man after His own heart. But what 
did the Lord do to punish David for these crimes? 
He sent Nathan, the prophet, to tell him a little 
anecdote so as to make the king condemn himself, 
and to tell him that God had put away his sin 
so that he should not die, but his house should 
henceforward be divided against itself. Nathan also 
told David that the child that would be born of 
Bath-sheba should sicken and die. This came to 
pass in due time, but Bath-sheba became the mother 
of Solomon, who succeeded to the throne. The 
Ammonites were no insignificant enemy to deal with; 
for their royal city, Kabbah, stood a siege of one or 
two years, by the combined forces of Israel under the 
command of the old veteran, Joab, and succumbed at 
last, in all probability, through want of supplies. 
For, being continually surrounded by a large army, 
they could have no communications with the outside 
world. About the end of the siege Joab sent messen¬ 
gers to David to inform him that he had taken the 
city of waters, but requested the king to gather 
together the rest of Israel and come and take the city in 
person, “ lest it bare Joab’s name.” Whereupon David 
collected a new army and went and fought against the 
city and took it. And he took the crown off the 
Ammonite king’s head, and it was placed on David’s 
head. He also took much spoil out of the city. This 
part of it was the right of the conqueror, but what 
follows would be a disgrace to a barbarian. The 
Ammonites were a brave people, and they had been 
fighting during the siege to protect their homes 
and families, like men; and they had claims on the 
Israelites to be treated as well as the latter had been 
by the Ammonites in former times when the Israel¬ 
ites were the defeated party. It is true, that the 


88 


DA VID BECOMES KINO. 


king of Ammon had caused to be shaven off one-half 
of the beards of David’s messengers, but he had taken 
no life, nor had he done them any further bodily harm; 
and it was barbarous as cruel to torture the captives 
as related. The author of the narrative tells us, 
without a blush, that David brought forth the people 
out of the fallen city and put them under saws and 
under harrows of iron, and under axes of iron, and 
made them pass through the brick kiln. “And thus 
did he to all the cities of the children of Ammon;” 
and then returned to Jerusalem. 

If ever a man lived who deserved the curse of God 
upon his head, it was the man who could perpetrate 
such crimes as these, and then raised his voice in 
thanksgiving to his Maker for his success in carrying 
out such infamy. No sooner did David seem to be 
well established in his kingdom, than the thickening 
clouds began to hover about him. Ammon, bis first 
born, loved or thought he loved his half sister Tamar. 
He feigned sickness and begged that the fair maiden 
might prepare food for him. When left alone with 
him in his chamber, he seized her by force, and then, 
despite her prayers, violated her person; and then 
drove her in disgrace from his apartment. David 
heard of Iris son’s infamy, and was wroth; Absalom, 
Tamar’s own brother, heard of it, but said little about 
it and told his sister to keep quiet. 

Two years later, Absalom had a sheep-shearing, and 
invited his brothers to a feast; and when Ammon 
was merry with drinking wine, Absalom’s servants 
rose up,- according to previous instructions, and slew 
him. Upon this, his brothers fled to Jerusalem, and 
Absalom fled to Geshur in Syria; and remained there 
three years; at the end of which time, Joab per¬ 
suaded the king to recall his son from exile. But 
David would not allow Absalom to see him for two 
years after he returned to Jerusalem. But finally, 
through the influence of Joab, he was permitted an 
interview with his father, and was restored to favor. 
No sooner had Absalom been restored to favor, than 


DAVID BECOMES KING. 


89 


he began to lay plans to make himself master of Israel. 

During his three years exile in Syria with a neigh¬ 
boring king, Absalom had, in all probability, brooded 
over his condition, until a feeling of resentment, and 
perchance revenge, had grown up in his bosom, against 
his father and brothers, until he determined in his 
heart to remove them from power if he could, and 
assume the authority of king at the earliest opportu¬ 
nity. These plains were probably furthered by his 
royal host, who had in former days suffered at David’s 
hands. Absalom prepared him chariots and horses 
and a retinue of servants; and when parties came to 
the king for judgment, he met them in the way and 
made flattering speeches to them and kissed their 
hands, and told them that they would receive justice 
if he were judge of Israel In this way, we are told, 
Absalom stole the hearts of Israel. We may infer 
that a conspiracy was formed under the leadership of 
Absalom, at an early day after he returned to Jeru¬ 
salem ; and as soon as he felt that he could raise a 
good army, he asked permission of his father to go to 
Hebron to pay his vow to the Lord. He said he 
vowed while in Syria, to give himself to the Lord, if 
ever he were allowed to return to Jerusalem. His 
father told him to go in peace. 

As soon as Absalom got quartered in Hebron, he sent 
spies throughout the tribes, who said to the people, 
“ As soon as you hear the sound of the trumpet you 
shall say, 4 Absalom reigneth in Hebron.’ ” It would 
seem that the tribes were ripe for rebellion before 
such a daring order could be sent forth with any 
assurance of safety to the conspirators. In the mean¬ 
time, a messenger went and informed David of what 
was being done in his kingdom; and contrary to every 
reasonable expectation, David, on the first intimation 
of the intelligence, ordered his household and friends 
to prepare for flight, without raising a hand to resist 
the conspiracy, or to try to sustain himself in the 
kingdom. Such a cowardly flight seems as much 
unlike the man, David, as it was unworthy the king. 

9 * 


00 


DAVJD CONCLUDED. 


We may ask here, where was Joab all this time? And 
where the army that he had led into so many battles 
and brought them out victorious? Was it because a 
rebellious son of the king had sounded the war 
trumpet that all Isral had left their old leaders to 
follow an upstart ? or was it that the man after God's 
own heart had proved to be such an intolerable tyrant 
that the people were tired of his rule? The whole 
account of the conspiracy, of the king’s flight from 
Jerusalem, of his weakness, treatment and conduct 
on the way, and of his being at the head of a large 
army again within a few days, and the defeat of 
Absalom, and the strange circumstances of the latter’s 
death, all seem to bear marks of traditional inaccu¬ 
racies and myths. 

/ 


CHAPTER XIII. 


DAVID CONCLUDED. 

In the tumult and excitement of the flight of David 
and his friends from Jerusalem, Zadok the priest, and 
the Levites were about to carry the ark away from the 
city; but David requested the priest to remain in- 
Jerusalem with the sacred relic, and watch the move¬ 
ments of Absalom, and keep him informed in regard 
to them; and he would go to the wilderness and tarry 
there, and wait for further developments. The king 
soon learned that Ahithophel, his counsellor, had gone 
over to Absalom and was among the conspirators. 
And when David was come to the top of the mount to 
worship, Ilushai came to meet him with his coat rent 




DAVID CONCLUDED. 


91 


and earth upon his head; to whom the king said, 
“If thou passest on with me, then thou shalt be a 
burden unto me.” So David bid him go back to the 
city and pretend to be a friend to the usurper, as he 
had been to David. In this way, David said Hushai 
might defeat the counsels of Ahithophel. David also 
instructed him to tell Zadok the priest, whatever he 
might learn about Absalom’s intentions; and the 
priest would dispatch his son at once with any such 
intelligence to David. 

As soon as the king had passed Mount Olivet, Ziba, 
the servant of Mephibosheth, grandson of Saul, met 
him with a couple of asses loaded w r ith refreshments, 
and told him that his master had said that Israel 
would now restore him to the throne of his fathers. 
This intelligence naturally lead David to think that 
there were two conspiracies formed against him; but 
when David returned to Jerusalem, the grandson of 
Saul denied having had any intentions of regaining 
the kingdom. When David reached Bahurim, Shimei, 
of the family of the house of Saul, came out and 
cursed him, and threw stones at David and at his 
servants, crying out at the same time, “Come out, 
thou bloody man, thou man of Belial, for the Lord 
hath returned upon thee all the blood of the house of 
Saul, in whose stead thou hast reigned; and the Lord 
hath delivered the kingdom into the hand of Absalom, 
thy son; and behold thou art taken in thy mischief, 
because thou art a bloody man.” Abishai, one of 
David’s captains, wanted to go and take off the head 
of Shimei, but David would not allow it, for he said 
the Lord had sent Shimei to curse him, and maybe 
the Lord would requite good for the cursing. When 
Absalom reached Jerusalem, Ahithophel at his request 
gave counsel what to do; and had all of his advice 
been followed, David would, doubtless, have been 
captured and slain; and Absalom anointed king. 
AVhen David fled from Jerusalem he left ten of his 
concubines to keep his house during his absence; 
and the first part of Ahithophel’s advice to the 


92 


DAVID CONCLUDED. 


usurper was for him to commit a crime, in the 
presence of the men of Israel, so base in its concep¬ 
tion, and so degrading in its execution, that it casts a 
lasting reproach, even on the elders of that corrupt 
age and people. So intense was the hatred of Israel 
towards David that it appears the surest way to gain 
the people’s good will was to merit the hatred of the 
king. Therefore Ahithophel counselled Absalom to 
have criminal intercourse with his father’s concu¬ 
bines, whom he had left to keep the house. Accord¬ 
ingly, they spread Absalom a tent on the top of the 
house, and he committed the base act in the sight of 
all Israel. Yet, we read in the very next sentence, 
that the counsel of Ahithophel in those days was 
considered so unerring by the people, by David, and 
by Absalom, that it seemed as if a man had inquired 
at the oracle of God. The second part of his advice 
was to pursue and to capture David at once. But 
Husbai had reached the city and pretended to be 
Absalom’s friend; and he also was asked to give 
counsel as to what was best to do. His advice was 
not to follow David at once, for he said the king 
would not sleep that night with the people, but 
would hide in some pit and would not be found. 
But he thought it w r ould be better to delay the pursuit 
for a few days, until a large army could be raised, and 
then the victory would be assured. When Absalom 
and the men of Israel heard the counsel of Hushai 
they thought it was better than that given by Ahitho¬ 
phel, and they followed it. This so chagrined Ahitho¬ 
phel that he went and put his house in order and then 
hanged himself. As soon as Hushai saw that Absalom 
followed his counsel he held an interview with Zadok 
and Abiathar, the priests, and told them to send their 
sons quickly to David to inform him of the counsel 
that Ahithophel and he had respectively'given to the 
usurper, and charged them to tell the king to pass 
over the Jordan without delay. Upon receiving this 
news, David prepared to cross the river at once, and 
by the next morning the king and his followers had 
passed safely over to the eastern shore. 


DAVID CONCLUDED . 


93 


David and his company went immediately to Maha- 
min where he was furnished with a goodly lot of 
supplies by Shobi, an Ammonite, and others. 

Absalom lost no time, and seems to have raised a 
large army within a few days and made Amasa captain 
of his host. The usurper crossed the Jordan without 
delay and pitched his camp in the land of Gilead. 
We next read the surprising account that David 
numbered the people that were with him and placed 
captains over hundreds, and captains over thousands. 
And as they went out to battle we find that he had an 
immense army in three equal divisions; one under 
Joab, another under Joab’s brother, Abishai, and the 
third under Ittai, the Gittite. Feeling sure of victory, 
David bid his captains and people 10 deal gently with 
Absalom. The battle was fought in the wood of 
Ephraim; and we read that the Israelites were 
defeated by David’s men, and twenty thousand were 
slain. Notwithstanding this immense slaughter, we 
are told that the wood devoured more people that day 
than the sword. How so many were devoured by the 
wood we are not informed; therefore we must be 
content to pass it by as one of the mysteries of Israel. 
Although David was so tender over the son that was 
seeking to take his father’s life, and who had already 
usurped the throne, the son must be killed in some 
way; therefore he rode on a mule under an oak tree, 
the limbs of which caught into his hair, the mule 
went from under him and the would-be king was 
suspended between the heavens and the earth. Here 
we find another mystery; for how could Absalom 
hang for many seconds from the limbs of a tree, 
unseen and unnoticed by his companions, who would, 
surely, have rescued him at once. But he was left 
there hanging till one of the enemy saw him, who 
went and told Joab about it. Joab, in his character¬ 
istic way, asked the man why he did not kill Absalom. 
“ If you had,” said he, “ I would have given you ten 
shekels of silver and a girdle.” The man replied 
that he would not have killed the king’s son for a 


94 


DAVID CONCLUDED . 


thousand shekels of silver, and, at the same time, 
reminded Joab of what the king’s charge was concern¬ 
ing Absalom. But Joab had seen his master put men 
to death for much less crime than Absalom was guilty 
of then, and he knew, too, that the shortest way to 
put down the rebellion was to cut off its head while 
the opportunity presented itself. Accordingly, he 
took three darts and thrust them through the heart of 
Absalom, who was yet alive. Joab then blew his 
trumpet and the slaughter ceased. Upon hearing the 
tidings of his son’s death, David was much moved 
and made that noted exclamation, “ 0, my son Ab¬ 
salom! my son, my son Absalom! Would God I 
had died for thee, 0, Absalom my son, my son! ” 
We read that this great victory was turned into 
mourning; for the king mourned for Absalom; and 
because the king mourned the people mourned and 
crept into the city as if ashamed. Joab, hearing of 
the king’s condition, went into his house and made 
the most sensible and telling speech to him that is 
recorded in the books of Samuel. The old captain 
meant busines when he said to David, “ Thou hast 
shamed, this day, the faces of all thy servants, who, 
this day, have saved thy life, and the iives of thy sons 
and thy daughters, and the lives of thy wives, and the 
lives of thy concubines; in that thou lovest thine 
enemies and hatest thine friends; for thou hast 
declared this day that thou regardest neither princes 
nor servants; for this day I perceive that if Absalom 
had lived, and all we had died this day, then it had 
pleased thee well. Now, therefore, arise, go forth and 
speak comfortably to thy servants; for I swear by the 
God, if thou go not forth, .there will not tarry one 
with thee this night; and that will be worse unto thee 
than all the evil that befell thee from thy youth until 
now.” 

In this speech of Joab we see, first, a scathing rebuke 
to the king for whining about the death of a son who 
had received no more than his just deserts; secondly, 
a command by a man who meant to enforce it; and, 


DAVID CONCLUDED. 


95 


thirdly, a threat that left no choice except between 
obeying the command and being deserted by those 
who, alone, could sustain him in power. The king 
obeyed the command, and the people were relieved 
from their mourning. The Israelites were now at 
strife, throughout all the tribes, about a ruler; for 
Absalom whom they had anointed was slain; so they 
began to think about bringing the old king back from 
the eastern side of the Jordan. At this date, which 
is supposed to be about 1023 B. C., the tribe of Judah 
seems to have been quite widely separated from the 
rest of Israel in many respects; and David being of 
that tribe, and having been anointed by that tribe 
first, and ruled over that tribe only, for the first seven 
years of his reign, he felt an impatience for the men 
of Judah to recall him and escort him back to Jeru¬ 
salem. Accordingly he sent messengers to Zadok 
and Abiathar the priests, who had remained in the 
royal city, to request them to say to the elders of 
Judah, “Why are ye the last to bring the king back 
to his house, seeing the speech of all Israel is come 
to the king?” He also requested them to say to 
Amasa, “Art thou not of my bone and my flesh ? God 
do so to me, and more also, if thou be not captain of 
the host before me continually in room of Joab.” 
Upon this solicitation of the priests, the men of Judah 
invited David to return, and they met him at the 
Jordan and conducted him back to Jerusalem. But 
scarcely had David been restored to the throne,,when 
a jealous quarrel arose between the tribe of Judah 
and the ten tribes of Israel. The latter had first 
invited David to return, but the king seemed to ignore 
their request, and begged an invitation from Judah. 
While the tribes were thus at strife concerning which 
had the greater claim to the king, Sheba, a man of 
Benjamin, blew a trumpet and said they (the ten 
tribes) had no part in David; and cried out, “ Every 
man to his tent, 0, Israel,” and all Israel followed 
Sheba; but Judah clave to the king. David had now 
just cause for alarm. Wherefore he bid Amasa to 


96 


DAVID CONCLUDED . 


collect the men of Judah together within three days, 
ignoring his old captain, Joab, who had been so 
faithful to him for thirty years, and who had fought 
his battles and gained nearly all his victories; and 
who had just put down the rebellion that had driven 
him into exile, where he would still have been, but 
for the victory gained over the usurper by this same 
Joab. 

But Amasa failed to collect the men of Judah 
within the set time, and David, becoming alarmed 
and fearing that the delay would give Sheba an 
opportunity to do more mischief than Absalom had 
done, he had to call on Abishai to take charge of 
Joab’s old followers to pursue after Sheba. But, it 
appears, when they reached Ctibeon, Amasa joined 
them; and Joab was there also. While at Gibeon, 
Amasa had on Joab’s garment and a girdle with a 
sword fastened about him. As Amasa went on, his 
sword fell out of his sheath. Joab picked the sword 
up and took Amasa by the beard as if to kiss him; 
and, at the same time, smote his successor under the 
fifth rib and killed him. The old captain then 
resumed the command and pursued Sheba to a city 
called Abel. Joab laid siege to the city and his forces 
began to batter down the walls; but a woman of the 
place came and begged the commander to spare the 
city. He agreed to do so on condition that the head 
of Sheba be thrown over to him. This was done, and 
Joab retired with the army and went back to Jeru¬ 
salem. A famine now occurred in Israel and lasted 
three years. David incpiired of the Lord about it, 
and was informed that it was on account of Saul and 
his bloody house, because Saul slew the Gibeonites. 
Whereupon David called the Gibeonites .and asked, 
“ What shall I do for you ? and wherewith shall 1 
make the atonement, that ye may bless the inheritance 
of the Lord ?” The Gibeonites said they wanted 
neither silver nor gold of Saul’s, but they wanted 
seven of his sons, that they might hang them before 
the Lord, in Gibeah of Saul, as a punishment to 


DAVID CONCLUDED. 


97 


Saul’s house for his evil designs against them. David 
readily complied with their wishes, and the Gibeon- 
ites hanged the seven men unto the Lord, in Gibeah. 

David then collected the bones of Saul and his sons 
together and buried them in Zelak, in the sepulchre 
of Kish; and after that the Lord was entreated for 
the land. Let us pause here and ask, Was this pun¬ 
ishment of these seven men in accord with the Mosaic 
law, or was it not? We have here a plain case where 
the sons and grandsons were punished for the sins of 
the father and grandfather. Two of these seven men, 
who were hanged by the Gibeonites, were sons of Saul 
by a concubine; the other five were sons of Merab, 
Saul’s eldest daughter. All of them were young 
when Saul had his evil designs against the Gibeonites; 
and a part of them, perhaps, were not then born; 
and it is nothing less than infamy in any writer, of 
any age, to impute such deeds to the will of an all¬ 
wise and just God. Towards the end of David’s reign 
the Philistines began to raise their heads again, and 
several battles were fought with little advantage, 
perhaps, to either side, except that David’s worthies 
killed off* some of the Philistine giants. 

About two years before David’s death, we find that 
a new character was introduced on the stage of 
action, in the person of his Satanic majesty, who 
led the old king into sin at once, by persuading him 
to number the people in his kingdom. Joab saw the 
mistake that the king was about to make, and 
cautioned him against it; but the old warrior’s 
influence waned before that of Satan, and David 
would have the people numbered. Accordingly, Joab 
and the captains of the host went throughout the 
tribes of Israel and numbered the people and then 
returned to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and 
twenty days. “And Joab gave up the sum of the 
number of the people to the king; and there were in 
Israel eight hundred thousand valiant men who 
drew the sword; and the men of Judah were five 
hundred thousand men.” This numbering gave 
10 


08 


DAVID CONCLUDED. 


thirteen hundred thousand fighting men to the 
Hebrew nation; five parts of which were accredited 
Judah alone, while only eight parts of thirteen were 
found in all the rest of Israel. But in Chronicles 
these numbers are swelled by one hundred and seventy 
thousand, leaving Levi and Benjamin unnumbered. 
But taking the lowest number, as given in Kings, we 
find that there were thirteen hundred thousand 
valiant men who drew the sword in Palestine. Five 
hundred thousand of these soldiers were found in 
Judah alone. 

The district comprised within the boundaries of 
Judah could not exceed fifteen hundred square miles, 
including the desert country bordering on the Dead 
Sea; and we have every evidence that large parts of 
the mountainous districts were uninhabited, or very 
thinly peopled. Therefore, it is fair to conclude, that 
the people of Judah did not occupy more than one 
thousand square miles. And to admit that Judah 
had five hundred thousand fighting men, we must 
claim that she had at least three millions of people, 
or three thousand to every square mile inhabited, and 
more than four and one-half individuals to every acre ♦ 
of ground. 

Such a condition, as any one can see at a glance, 
would be impossible, in any state or district, in any 
age of the world. 

And admitting that thirteen hundred thousand 
men of war were found in all Israel and Judah com¬ 
bined, we must claim a population of eight millions 
of people for the same sections of country, or one 
thousand to the square mile of all the country in 
Palestine that was good enough for habitation. Such 
a population could not be sustained on the richest 
countries in the world with all the modern improve¬ 
ments in farming implements, even in a state of 
profound peace. But to David’s time Palestine had 
been overrun by invading armies almost continually; 
and under such circumstances a dense population 
could not find support. 


DAVID CONCLUDED . 


99 


Furthermore, the records give us every evidence 
that large, sections were thinly peopled and poorly 
cultivated all through the periods in question. There¬ 
fore there is no more reliance to be placed on the 
great numbers of valiant men in David’s time than 
there is in the account of the great armies that little 
Philistia sent against Israel in the time of Saul. 

But to return to David: we find him horrified at 
what he has done, and he beseeches G-od to take away 
his iniquity; for lie feels that he has done a foolish 
thing. 

While he was thus meditating on the crime that he 
had committed, his prophet, Gad, came and told him 
that the Lord was about to punish him for the sin he 
had committed, and would give him a choice of three 
evils, one of which he must chose as a punishment 
for the crime of numbering the people. Israel must 
suffer seven years of famine, three months of defeat 
by her enemies, or three days of pestilence in the 
land. David chose the latter; for he said that he 
would rather fall into the hands of God than into the 
hands of men. Accordingly, God sent the pestilence, 
and seventy thousand people fell victims to its 
remorseless power. 

But when the angel of God stretched forth his 
hand over Jerusalem to destroy it, the Lord repented 
of the evil, and told the angel to stay his hand; it 
was enough; He would not destroy the city. 

And David spoke unto the Lord when he saw the 
angel that, smote the people, and said, “ Lo, I have 
sinned and done wickedly, but these sheep, what have 
they done?” Yes, what had they done? But we 
might also ask, what had the seventy thousand done, 
who had already fallen by the scourge ? Why should 
they thus perish for David’s sins, and he and his 
seraglio of many wives and concubines go free ? 

Better, far better would it have been to have 
thinned out his own family a little and left the more 
innocent people unpunished. But we have now 
followed David through the most of his earthly career. 
One more act, and the curtain falls, 


100 


DAVID CONCLUDED. 


We now find him sick upon his bed, shivering from 
cold, and unable to get any warmth. More clothes 
are put over him, but his vitality is so nearly spent, 
that heat is not generated. His servants conceive the 
idea that a beautiful virgin might yet revive him. 
Wherefore, messengers are sent throughout the coasts 
of Israel, to find the fairest creature that can be found 
among Israel’s fair daughters. The old king lies and 
shivers during all this time of search, but how many 
days, we are not informed. But after a time Abishag, 
a beautiful Shunammite maiden is found, and is 
brought to the sick king. This lovely maiden stands 
before the king, and cherishes him, and ministers to 
him, and lies in his bosom; but the king is so feeble, 
that he knows her not. 

While this beautiful maiden is thus trying to revive 
and comfort David, the once charming Bath-sheba 
enters the apartment to intercede for her son Solomon. 
But 0, how things have changed within the last 
twenty years! She who had so charmed “ the man 
after God’s own heart” twenty years before, that he 
planned her husband’s death that she might become 
his own wife, is not capable now of soothing him in 
his dying hours; but the fairest of Israel’s virgin 
daughters has been sought out for that purpose, while 
Bath-sheba enters the apartment like a suppliant to 
entreat the king to redeem his promise to her in years 
gone by, that her son Solomon should succeed him on 
the throne. 

The taint of poligamy had crept into the state on a 
larger scale during David’s reign than at any previous 
time; and some of its evils had already been felt 
during his active life. And as the king lay upon his 
death-bed, Adonijah usurped the throne and was 
acknowledged king by a large party. Joab the 
captain of the host, and Abiathar the priest, acknow¬ 
ledged him; and he assumed the reign by giving a 
princely feast. But Nathan the prophet and Zodak 
the priest were opposed to Adonijah, and sought to 
place Solomon on the throne of his father. Therefore 


DAVID CONCLUDED 


101 


they took measures at once to have Solomon anointed 
king with the consent of his father, so that Israel 
would know what were the wishes of the dying king. 
Solomon was anointed by Zadok the priest, and 
received the charge of his father just before the 
latter’s death. The last part of David’s charge to 
Solomon was in regard to certain ones that he wanted 
the new king to put to death. He charged him not to 
let Joab’s hoar head come to the grave in peace, and 
to bring Shimei’s hoar head to the grave in blood. 
Joab, to avenge his own brother, had killed Abner, 
and in his zeal for David and for the security of the 
state, he slew the rebel and usurper, Absalom. For 
these and a few minor crimes, David charged Solomon 
not to let Joab come to the grave in peace. But 
David ought to have remembered that Joab did a 
darker deed than any of these, at David’s bidding, by 
placing Uriah where he would get killed in the war. 
with the Ammonites, so that the king could appro¬ 
priate Bath-sheba to his already well filled harem. 

Joab had been David’s principal officer and un¬ 
flinching servant for forty years and, perchance, as 
guilty of crime as the king was himself, but for all 
that, he deserved a better reward from such a master, 
than the venom that fell from his dying lips. David 
charged Solomou to bring Shimei’s hoar head to the 
grave in blood, because he cursed the king when he 
was fleeing from Jerusalem before Absalom; but when 
the king was returning, Shimei met him, acknow¬ 
ledged his sin and bitterly repented; and was faithful 
to the king ever afterwards. David, in giving his 
charge to Solomon, tells him he is a wise man and will 
know what to do. He speaks to him as though he 
were a matured man ; but at the time that he ascended 
the throne, Solomon could not have been more than 
eighteen years of age, for it was not more than 
twenty years before his death, that David committed 
the crime of adultery with Uriah’s wife; and the first 
child died; and Solomon was the second child by 
that union. Therefore, he could not be more than 
10 * 


102 


DAVID CONCLUDED. 


eighteen when he was anointed king. We are told 
that David reigned forty years and that he was thirty 
years old when he began to reign. This would make 
him only seventy when he died. But the stories about 
his early life, disagree so much with one another, that 
his years are as uncertain as the narrative that gives 
us the details of his career. We read a long list of 
the names of David’s mighty men who performed 
prodigious feats; but as none of these worthies 
showed their heads during David’s flight from Jeru- 
ralem, I take it that the stories about them only add 
legend to tradition. 

I feel that I cannot close this chapter without 
calling the reader’s attention to the closing scenes of 
David’s life, as given in the last part of the Second 
Book of Samuel, and the first part of the Frst Book 
of Kings; and to the last acts of his life, as detailed 
. in the last chapters of the First Book of Chronicles. 

It will be readily seen that I have followed the 
books of Samuel; and have done so because these 
books give the history of general events in greater 
detail than do the books of Chronicles. In the last 
year of David’s reign, according to the Second Book 
of Samuel, the king was feeble and sick; no help for 
him, unless it could be found in the charms of a 
beautiful virgin. One of his sons sees his father’s 
condition and tries to usurp the throne. Bath-sheba 
enters the sick king’s apartment and entreats him to 
fulfil his promise, made to her years before, and raise 
her son Solomon to the throne. He does so and 
charges him to bring a number of men to their 
graves in blood. 

In Chronicles we find David making Solomon king 
of his own accord, and giving him fabulous amounts 
of materials and treasures wherewith to build a 
temple. And instead of lying helpless and receiving 
ministrations from a fair maiden, he stands upon his 
feet and is making long speeches to the great men 
of Isral. Instead of hearing that a son has usurped 
the throne, he sees all of his sons and the people 


SOLOMON'S REIGN. 


103 


willingly submit to Solomon, his own choice. Instead 
of crying for the blood of Joab and others, he beholds, 
with the greatest satisfaction, his faithful old captain 
bringing in a goodly amount of treasures for the 
contemplated temple. And, for all this good fortune, 
David is offering up prayers and thanksgiving to God. 

The two accounts of the last year of David’s life 
are so at variance chat if the names of David, 
Solomon and a few others were changed in one 
or the other, no one could mistrust that the two 
accounts bore any relation whatever. 


CHAPTER XIV. 


SOLOMON’S REIGN. 

I think that it has been clearly shown in the 
preceding chapter that, according to the narrative, 
Solomon was not more than eighteen years old when 
he ascended the throne of his father. In the First of 
Kings, David is made to tell Solomon he is a wise man 
and will know what to do; in Chronicles he speaks 
of being young and tender. In Chronicles we read 
nothing about Adonijah usurping the throne, but in 
that book all is represented as peace and splendor. 
But, as the story, as told in Chronicles, is evidently 
the product of some flowery mind that lived centuries 
after Solomon’s time, I turn from it and principally 
follow the narrative in the Books of Kings. 

It appears that Solomon was anointed as soon as 
David gave his consent, and while his half-brother 




104 


SOLOMON'S REION. 


Adonijah was holding his feast at Enrogel. Under 
such circumstances we might generally look for civil 
war, and especially so when the commander-in-chief 
of the army is on the side with the usurper. But in 
this instance all concerned seemed to cower at the 
moment when they heard that Solomon was anointed 
king. Solomon was acknowledged at once by all parties 
though a mere boy, while his brother must have been 
near forty, having been born while his father lived 
and reigned in Hebron. It seems strange that a mere 
boy should be acknowledged by such a people, and 
they stand passively by and see their old captain of 
the army and other prominent men slain at the 
young king’s bidding, without any resistance on their 
part whatever. Joab and Adonijah were put to death 
almost immediately, and Shimei in about two years; 
while Abiathar was driven from the priesthood to his 
own house. We see that Solomon, though a man of 
peace, began his reign by shedding the blood of two 
men, the one his brother, the other a gray-haired 
warrior of about seventy years. Though a mere boy, 
Solomon began to provide himself with wives at once; 
and the first of these that we read about was the 
daughter of the heathen king of Egypt. Though 
Solomon was very wise, this was a very unwise 
measure, for it was a sure way of bringing into Israel 
an addition of heathen gods, of which there were 
always too many for the good of the people. x4nd we 
shall find that in this instance it was a cause of 
much mischief. But the worship of heathen gods 
was never distasteful to the Israelites as a people; and 
Solomon was not an exception to the general rule; 
for we find him far from living up to the spirit of 
the Mosaic law at any time, except, perhaps, about 
the time of the dedication of the temple; and we can 
hardly suppose that, at that time, he worshipped the 
great Jehovah as anything more than the biggest of 
the gods. 

One of the first things that Solomon did was to go 
to Gibeon and offer up a thousand burnt offerings, for 


SOLOMON'S REIGN. 


105 


that was the great high place. And notwithstanding 
Solomon was violating the Mosaic law in doing this, 
God appeared to him in a dream in that place and 
made him the wisest man in the world. Solomon 
then went back to Jerusalem and offered up burnt- 
offerings and peace-offerings as he stood before the 
ark of the covenant. Immediately after this his 
great wisdom being known, the two harlots came 
before him for a decision about the child. This 
judgment was soon known far and near, and his 
wisdom was acknowledged and the people feared him. 

The fourth chapter of the First Book of Kings 
gives an outline of Solomon’s kingdom as established, 
and of his splendid appointments ; but it seems to me 
that no one can examine it in the least without coming 
to the conclusion that a part of it, at least, is fiction. 

Solomon is only just established on his throne, and 
a mere boy at that; yet, he is spoken of here as a man 
in mature life, and two of his appointments are to 
men, each of whom has a daughter of Solomon for 
his wife. We are also told that Solomon had forty 
thousand stalls of horses for his chariots; but this 
could not be, for the country of the Israelites, in its 
then condition, could not support so many, in addition 
to all necessary animals it had to sustain; nor do I 
believe that there were forty thousand horses in all of 
Palestine at that time. We read in the next chapter 
about the preparations made for the building of the 
temple, and the communications which passed between 
Solomon and Hiram, king of Tyre. Solomon raised 
a levy of thirty thousand men to work in the moun¬ 
tains of Lebanon. These men were divided into 
three companies of ten thousand each, so that each 
company worked one month and then returned home 
for two months; so that ten thousand men were at 
work in the mountains at all times. This seems bad 
enough, but when we are told, in the very next 
sentence, that Solomon had seventy thousand men to 
carry burdens, and eighty thousand hewers in the 
mountains, besides thirty-three hundred officers to 


106 


SOLOMON'S REION. 


oversee the work, the story seems to be ridiculous. 
The temple and the other buildings were small, 
compared with thousands of buildings at the present 
day, and one-fourth as many Yankees could have 
whittled out with jack-knives timber enough for all 
of them in the same length of time. And it is 
strange that the wise Solomon did not use some of his 
forty thousand horses as beasts of burden instead of 
so many conscript men. 

After making a league with Hiram, king of Tyre, 
in regard to workmen and material for the temple, 
Solomon began to lay the foundation for the same, in 
the fourth year of his reign, and finished it the 
eleventh year. He then called Israel and Judah 
together and dedicated it with great ceremonies. And 
we read, that on that occasion, Solomon sacrificed 
twenty-two thousand oxen and one hundred and 
twenty thousand sheep. This was an enormous quan¬ 
tity, but it might as well be that as anything less, for 
the Hebrew writers never spoiled a good thing for lack 
of numbers. 

After the dedication of the temple, God appeared 
to Solomon the second time, as he did at Gibeon, (in 
a dream I suppose) and accepted the temple and gave 
him further instructions. The glory of Solomon had 
now spread abroad, and the mysterious queen of 
Sheba heard the reports, but she could not believe 
them. Therefore, she paid the great king a visit, 
carrying with her rich presents of gold and precious 
stones and spices; and when she saw Solomon and all 
his glory, she declared that the half had not been 
told her. In return for her rich gifts and compli¬ 
ments, Solomon bestowed upon this queen all her 
heart’s desire; and then she returned to her own 
country, which explorers have never been able to find 
from that day to this. 

After twenty years had elapsed, and Solomon had 
completed his buildings in various places, there came 
a time for settlement between him and Iliram, king 
of Tyre. With all the accumulated wealth of Israel, 


SOLOMON'S REIGN. 


107 


it appears that Solomon did a good deal of his 
building on borrowed capital and labor, furnished by 
the king of Tyre. To pay this debt, Solomon gave 
to Hiram twenty cities in Galilee. Whether Solomon 
misrepresented these cities or not, we cannot tell, but 
they did not meet Hiram’s expectations when he went 
to see them; and he complained to Solomon about 
them. But we are not informed how the affair was 
adjusted. 

But right upon the heels of Solomon’s prosperity 
and glory, comes adversity, weakness and decay. 
Solomon, with all his pretended God-given wisdom, 
falls at the shrine of love and idolatry and shows 
himself to be the weakest ruler of his times. In the 
first twenty years of his reign, he burdens his people 
and exhausts their resources by forced and unpro¬ 
ductive labor. All the wealth of the nation is 
demanded for the temple and other costly buildings, 
and for the splendid equipments for himself and his 
unequalled harem. He is absolute monarch, and will 
suffer no refusal. Whatever his wants and desires, 
they must be satisfied; and by his weak judgment 
and lack of common sense in his government, he 
squanders where he ought to accumulate, and the 
signs of decay are plainly seen long before his death. 
We read that God appeared to Solomon at Gibeon 
and made him wiser than any man had been before 
him, or would be after him; but his whole conduct 
through life belies the claim. Such a gift as is 
claimed that Solomon received from God at Gibeon, 
would have guided him in a wise course in his govern¬ 
ment. He would have adopted wise measures for the 
improvement of his people, and for the development 
of the resources of his country. But instead of that, 
the first twenty years of his reign was a period of 
burdensome taxation to his people; and the forced 
labor that he exacted as tribute to his regal splendor, 
weakened the producing force of the nation, where an 
increase in strength was needed. 

The last twenty years of his reign was a period in 


108 


SOLOMON'S REION. 


which the king indulged, to the fullest extent, in 
idolatrous worship and sensual pleasures. We read 
that this Solomon, gifted with so much God-given 
wisdom, loved many strange women, together with 
Pharoah’s daughter; women of the Moabites, of the 
Ammonites, of the Edomites, of the Zidonites, and of 
the Hittites, and many others which God had forbid¬ 
den to the Israelites. But we are told that Solomon 
“ clave to these in love.” Yes and he clave to their 
gods in love also, notwithstanding his dream at Gibeon 
and the great gift of wisdom he received. Solomon 
exhausted his nation by taxes and forced labor not 
only for the temple and his palaces, but for the 
support of his unparalelled harem of seven hundred 
wives and three hundred concubines, all of whom 
had to be kept in royal style. And for many of these 
strange women, Solomon built separate places of 
worship, whereunto they could go and burn incense 
to their own gods. Yes, he turned his back on his 
own national God, and insulted his people by building- 
high places to other national deities, within sight of 
their own great temple. And his own already too 
much taxed people had to contribute, by labor and 
other means, to the building of these temples. And 
he, their king and the wisest man in the world, joined 
with his wives in burning incense to their many gods. 

A wise ruler is apt to make mistakes in his govern¬ 
ment and to commit errors, but never to participate 
in such follies; nor to let voluptuous pleasures engross 
his time and attention to the neglect of the State. 

Preachers often seem to point with satisfaction to 
the fact that Solomon sinned; for it helps to make 
good the remark that “no man liveth and sinneth 
not.” But when we see the gifted Solomon surround¬ 
ing himself by hundreds of princesses from the 
neighboring idolatrous countries, we see that he sinned 
not only in a manner to confirm the above saying, but 
he shows a lack of decency and common sense. 

Solomon gave reins to his passions and lived a 
voluptuous life, at the expense of an overburdened 


SOLOMON'S REIGN. 


109 


people, who, at his death, petitioned his son and 
successor to the throne to make their burdens lighter. 

We read that Solomon’s wisdom excelled that of 
every other man that lived in all the earth; but we 
are not informed that he established a single institu¬ 
tion of learning, or any other institution for the 
benefit or improvement of his people whatever. Then 
wherein did his great wisdom lie? Surely not in 
statesmanship, nor in the promotion of his subjects to 
happiness, or we should not hear the people entreating 
his successor to make their burdens lighter. His 
wisdom did not lie in setting a worthy example to the 
nation, for he not only transgressed the Mosaic laws, 
but also the laws of decency. We read that he spake 
of trees, and of fishes, and of fowls, and of beasts; 
but as his sayings on these things have not come down 
to us, we cannot judge how great his wisdom in this 
line was. 

We read that Solomon spoke three thousand pro¬ 
verbs and a thousand and five songs; but the proverbs 
and the songs that have come down to us, are of too 
doubtful origin to be ascribed to any one man. The 
“ songs,” taken in an untheological sense, might have 
been the production of some such mind as that of 
Solomon, but the proverbs, never. If Solomon could 
give such advice to others, why did he not take a little 
of it himself? If his mind were ever in a condition 
to produce such sayings, it is strange that it had not 
a better control over his body. 

We read that both David and Solomon had scribes 
and record-ers, but we learn this from authors who 
lived at a much later day; and we look in vain for a 
sentence that makes the slightest claim to having 
been written by the scribes or recorders of either 
David or Solomon. In the times of the early kings 
there might have been a rude form of keeping partial 
records, but nothing like a complete account of events 
as they occurred. But this subject will be examined 
later on. 

11 


110 


SOLOMON'S REION. 


It appears that God raised up adversaries to Solo¬ 
mon at an early period of his reign, two of whom did 
him great mischief as long as he lived. These were 
Hadad, the Edomite, and Bezon, the Syrian; hut no 
account of the trouble is given. And lastly, God 
raised up Jeroboam, an Ephrathite, and promised him 
ten parts of the kingdom at Solomon’s death. Eor 
this reason Solomon tried to kill Jeroboam; but the 
latter made his escape to Egypt and remained in that 
country till the death of Solomon. We learn but 
very little about the latter part of Solomon’s reign, 
but his time seems to have been taken up principally 
with his wives and concubines. Solomon is spoken of 
in First Kings as having lived to be an old man, but 
he must have died in what should have been the 
prime of his life; for there is no way making him 
more than fifty-eight years old at his death. With 
Solomon, the single monarchy passed away; and 
thenceforward to the captivity we have to deal with 
two petty kingdoms that were continually warring 
with each other; the history of which is of but little 
interest to the world; and both finally fell under the 
power of the Babalonian empire. 

The accounts of the two kingdoms are so mixed up 
in the books of the Bible that it is difficult for the 
general reader to get a clear view of either without 
taking great pains; therefore, I shall endeavor to give 
a separate account of each, and follow the history of 
Israel through to the captivity first, as that kingdom 
was the first to fall. 



THE KINGDOM OF ISRAEL. 


Ill 


CHAPTER XV. 


THE KINGDOM OF ISRAEL. 

We have already seen that God raised up adversa¬ 
ries to Solomon at an early day of his reign, as a 
punishment for the sins he committed. Ten parts of 
the kingdom were promised of God, through Abiiah, 
the prophet, to Jeroboam, who, to save himself from 
being slain by Solomon, fled to Egyt and remained in 
that country till the death of his persecutor. 

On learning of the death of Solomon, Jeroboam 
returned to his own country; and he and the men of 
Israel assembled at Shechem to make Rehoboam, son 
of Solomon, king. But the burden on the people 
had been so heavy under the late king, that they felt 
unwilling to serve his son, unless he would make their 
yoke lighter. Therefore, before accepting him, they 
took counsel and laid their grievances before him. 
In answer to their request, he told them that instead 
of making their burdens lighter he would add to 
it; and where his father had chastised them with 
whips, he would chastise with scorpions. This was 
too much for Israel; and the elders declared at once 
that they had no part in David; and cried, “ To your 
tents, 0, Israel! now see to thine own house, David.” 
Whereupon Rehoboam fled to Jerusalem, and the ten 
tribes of Israel made Jeroboam king over them, about 
975 B. C. The new kingdom began at once to organ¬ 
ize, and Shechem, in Mount Ephraim, was selected as 
the seat of government. But Jeroboam soon saw 
trouble ahead, against which he must provide. Since 
the temple had been at Jerusalem, the Israelites had 
been accustomed to going to that city at certain times 



112 


THE KINGDOM OF ISRAEL. 


each year to offer sacrifices; and their new king saw 
at once that if they continued to go there for that 
purpose, they might be won over to the king of 
Judah. Therefore to prevent such a possibility, he 
took counsel and made calves of gold, and said to the 
people, “ It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: 
behold thy gods, 0, Israel, which brought thee up out 
of the land of Egypt.” And strange though it appears, 
the Israelites accepted these calves as their gods. 
Were the Israelites a people of common sense ? or 
were they a set of barbarians without a ray of light 
to penetrate into their beclouded souls to teach them 
better things ? Less than thirty years before assem¬ 
bled Israel had stood and witnessed the dedicational 
ceremonies of the temple, and seen fire come down 
from heaven and consume the sacrifices on the altar, 
in recognition of God’s acceptance of his sanctuary. 
Now they do homage to a couple of calves and 
acknowledge them to be their gods. The idea is 
preposterous. Had they ever seen miracles and 
wonders performed that were beyond the power of 
man to execute, they would have been satisfied that 
such works were wrought by the power of an invisible 
God, and all the deceptions of earth could not have 
changed them. It may be pleaded that still greater 
events took place at the foot of Mount Sinai in the 
presence of the multitude that was awed by God’s 
thunders; yet, in the face of all that the people of 
that multitude had so recently witnessed, they cried 
for a calf to worship. But nothing proves more 
conclusively that they had never seen such sights. 
And again, it may be said that even Solomon, after 
having had two interviews with God, aside from his 
talk with Him at the dedication of the temple, even 
he soon forsook him and burned incense to other 
gods, within sight and sound of the temple he had 
erected and dedicated to the great Jehovah. This, 
too, is sufficient proof that Solomon had never been 
any more in communication with God than had his 
unfortunate subjects. Jeroboam placed ope of his 


THE KINGDOM OF ISRAEL. 


113 


manufactured calves in Bethel and the other in the 
city of Dan. And the people went to these places to 
sacrifice and to worship. 

Jeroboam created a new priesthood and ordained 
priests from the lowest of the people that were not of 
the Levites. 

While Jeroboam stood at the altar at Bethel to 
burn incense, a man of God came to him from 
Judah and cried out against the altar. This dis¬ 
pleased the king, and he stretched forth his hand, 
saying, “ Lay hold on him,” and his hand dried up. 
Jeroboam begged the man to entreat God to restore 
his hand. This was done, and the king invited the 
man to go to his house and eat with him and he 
would give him a reward. The man of God refused 
to go, having been told of God to neither eat nor 
drink at that place, and to return by another road. 
There lived in Bethel, at that time, an old prophet, 
and when he learned from his sons about the man of 
God, and w r hich road he had taken on his return, he 
followed him and found him sitting under an oak. 
The old prophet invited the man of God to go home 
with him and eat and drink, but the man refused the 
prophet for the same reason that he had refused the 
king. The man of Bethel said that he was a prophet 
also, and lied to the man of God by telling him that 
an angel appeared to him, saying, “ Bring him back 
with thee into thine house, that he may eat bread and 
drink water.” So he went back. Now, notwith¬ 
standing the old prophet had lied to the man of God, 
we read that while they sat at the table the word of 
God came to the prophet, saying, “Thus saith the 
Lord, Forasmuch as thou hast disobeyed the mouth of 
the Lord, but earnest back, and hast eaten bread and 
drunk water in this place, thy carcass shall not come 
unto the sepulchre of thy fathers.” The old man 
took his departure from Bethel, but was met on the 
way by a lion that slew him; and the lion and the 
old man’s ass were found standing by the dead man 
in the road; but the lion did not touch the ass, nor 
11 * 


114 


TIIE KINGDOM OF ISRAEL . 


trouble any one that passed by. The old prophet, 
at Bethel, learning what had befallen the man of God, 
went and brought him back and buried him in the 
grave that had been prepared for his own body. In 
removing the body from the spot where the old man 
was slain, the old prophet had to brave the presence 
of the lion, for the beast still stood there. But it 
appears the lion was peaceable and did no harm to the 
travelers that passed by. There is not a clearer bit 
of legend in the whole Bible than the above, nor 
anything that appears more inconsistent with what 
I conceive the laws of God to be. The old man 
is sent on a mission at the bidding of God. He is 
commanded what to do and what not to do. He does 
all that he has been commanded to do, and then takes 
his departure for home as directed. 

While resting under a tree by the wayside he is 
overtaken by a man who claims to be a prophet and 
who tells the too credulous old man that an angel has 
bidden him to bring back the man of God to his 
home to eat and drink. But the old prophet lies, and 
the man, who so short a time before has done such 
wonders, has not discernment enough to discover the 
lie. And, perhaps, feeling hungry and thirsty, he 
thinks a little bread and water will be good for him. 
And being fully persuaded that an angel has given 
the command, he accepts the invitation that lie is 
obeying God in doing so. But no sooner is he seated 
at the table with his lying deceiver than the latter 
does really receive a message from God for his guest; 
and this message foretells the latter’s destruction. 
To sum it up, we find that the man of God, for doing 
what he believed to be his duty, is extremely punished, 
while his lying deceiver goes free and goes to his 
grave in peace. 

We also find that Jeroboam receives no great, 
immediate injury, but is allowed to continue in his 
disobedience and transgressions through a long reign. 
The story showg that for an undesigned disobedience 
that injures no one, a life is terribly crushed out, 


THE KINGDOM OF ISRAEL. 


115 


as in the case of the old man; while lies and decep¬ 
tion go unpunished, as in the case of the old prophet. 

The story drags God low into the dust, while it 
shows us no good that was accomplished by crushing- 
out the life of the man of God. We do not learn 
that the event either frightened or improved Jeroboam 
any more than it frightens or improves anybody in 
our own day. Some time after the above event, the 
king’s son was taken sick, and the child’s mother 
went in disguise to inquire of the prophet, Abijah, 
what would be the result. She was detected by the 
seer who delivered to her' a terrible message from 
God. In this message God declares that he will cut 
off the house of Jeroboam from the kingdom, and 
will also root up Israel out of the land which He 
gave to their fathers, on account of the sins of 
Jeroboam, and because he made Israel to sin. We 
learn but little more about Jeroboam in the Book of 
Kings, but in Chronicles we read that in the twentieth 
year of his reign, a great battle was fought, in which 
eight hundred thousand Israelites were engaged 
against four hundred thousand men of Judah. In 
this battle Judah prevailed and slew five hundred 
thousand Israelites. Of this battle I shall speak 
more fully in reviewing the history of Judah. Jero¬ 
boam reigned about twenty-two years, and was 
succeeded by his son, Nadab, who reigned about two 
years, B. C. 954 to 952. 

Nadab, the second king of Israel, began to reign in the 
second year of Asa, king of Judah. We learn nothing 
about this king, except that he followed in the sins of 
his father, and that he led an army against Gibbethon, 
a city of the Philistines; and while there a conspiracy 
was formed against him, headed by Baasha, who slew 
the king and all the house of Jeroboam, and usurped 
the throne of Israel. Thus we see the kingdom passed 
into the hands of another family, scarcely twenty- 
four years after its formation. 

Baasha, the third king of Israel, removed the seat 
of government from Shechem to Tirzah, and reigned 


116 


THE KINGDOM OF ISRAEL. 


about twenty-four years. The word of the Lord came 
to Baasha by the prophet Jehu. In the message, God 
declared that He raised Baasha from the dust, and 
made him prince over Israel; and because he followed 
in the sins of Jeroboam, God declares that he will 
take away him and his posterity, as he did Jeroboam 
and his family. Although Baasha reigned about 
twenty-four years, his mighty deeds are not recorded. 
He slept with his fathers and was succeeded by Elah, 
his son. 

Elah, the fourth king of Israel, had reigned but 
two years, when Zimri, captain of half of the king’s 
chariots, conspired against him and slew him, while 
he was drinking himself drunk, and Zimri became 
king. 

Zimri, the fifth king of Israel, destroyed the house 
of Baasha, as the latter had destroyed that of Jero¬ 
boam. But the reign of Zimri was short indeed, 
lasting only seven days. For when the army that 
was encamped before Gibbethon, heard that Zimri 
had slain the king and usurped the throne, Omri, 
captain of the host, was proclaimed king of Israel on 
the spot. 

Omri, sixth king of Israel, withdrew the army from 
Gibbethon at once, and marched to, and besieged 
Tirzah, where the usurper was at the time. And 
when Zimri saw that the city was taken he went to 
the palace, set it on fire and burned in the flames. 
This event seems to have divided the people, for a 
part followed Omri and a part Tibni. But Omri 
prevailed and Tibni lost his life. But Omri trans¬ 
gressed the laws of God more than any of his 
predecessors. He built Samaria and removed the seat 
of government to that city. Omri reigned twelve 
years, six in Tirzah and six in Samaria. At his death 
Ahab, his son, became king. Ahab began to reign 
about B. 0. 918 and reigned twenty-two years in 
Samaria. 

We learn very little about a number of the kings 
of Israel preceding Ahab, except that each succeeding 


THE KINGDOM OF ISRAEL . 


117 


king sinned more than his predecessor. But Ahab’s 
acts are given in greater detail, and we are told on 
the start that he did more to provoke the Lord to 
anger than did all the kings before him. He took to 
wife Jezebel, the daughter of the king of the Zidoni- 
ans, and worshipped Baal. In his day Hiel built 
Jericho, laying the foundation at the birth of Abiram, 
his first born, and putting up the gates thereof in the 
infancy of his youngest son, Segub, so as to make 
good the words of Joshua. 

This Bethelite might have repaired the city of 
Jericho, but he certainly did not build it, for it had 
been frequently referred to through the generations up 
to his time. Some years after the beginning of Ahab’s 
reign Elijah, the prophet of prophets, speaks to the 
king and declares that there shall not be dew nor rain¬ 
fall on the ground “these years” but according to his 
word. The prophet is then commanded of God to 
get hence, eastward, and bide by the brook of Cherith, 
that is before Jordan. He is to drink of the brook 
and to be fed by two ravens that are to bring him 
bread and flesh, morning and evening. He went as 
directed, but after awhile the brook dried up, because 
there had been no rain. The Lord then commanded 
him to go to Zerephath, which belonged to Zidon, and 
a widow woman would there sustain him. But when 
the prophet reached that city and found his hostess 
she was gathering sticks, in order to cook the last bit 
of meal that she had for herself and son. This was 
all the food she had left, except a little oil in a cruse. 
She certainly was poorly prepared to divide her 
morsel with another. But Elijah assured the poor 
widow that neither the meal nor the oil should waste 
until rain should fall upon the earth; so the three 
lived in plenty for many days. After awhile the 
woman’s son fell sick, so that no breath was left in his 
body. But Elijah was equal to the occasion and soon 
restored the boy to life again. The woman knew by 
this act that Elijah was a man of God, and that 
truth was in his mouth. In the third year of the 


118 


THE KINGDOM OF ISRAEL. 


famine God commanded Elijah to go and see Ahab 
and then he would send rain upon the earth. 

The prophet went and saw that the famine was 
very sore in Samaria. At the time that Elijah 
reached Samaria, Ahab was taking measures to find 
pasture somewhere for his horses and mules, so that 
they would not all die. The king had already started 
one way, and had sent Obadiah, the governor of his 
house, another way. Elijah met Obadiah, who knew 
him; and the latter fell on his face to the ground 
and said, “ Art thou my lord, Elijah ?” The prophet 
answered him, “ I am, go, tell thy lord, Behold, Elijah 
is here.” Now, this Obadiah was a man that feared 
God, and some time before this, when Jezebel put the 
prophets of the Lord to death, he hid a hundred of 
this order of men in a cave and fed them secretly 
with bread and water. But the secret was found out, 
and some one told Ahab about it; and Obadiah, 
perhaps, felt the resentment of the king and queen. 
And now Obadiah felt a little delicacy about inform¬ 
ing the king of the whereabouts of the greatest prophet 
among the prophets, for fear he might get into trouble. 

Ahab, it appears, had searched through all king¬ 
doms to try to find Elijah; but to whatever place he 
sent Elijah was always somewhere else. And now, to 
see the old prophet come to face Ahab, seems strange 
enough; and Obadiah mistrusts that if he goes to tell 
the king that Elijah has come, before the king can 
reach the spot, the spirit may carry the prophet to 
some other quarter of the world. In such a case 
Obadiah feels sure that Ahab will slay him. But 
Elijah declares that he will see the king that day. 
Whereupon Obadiah goes at once to tell Ahab, and 
the latter turns and meets the prophet. After 
a short interview Elijah requests the king to collect 
together his prophets of Baal, and to bring two 
bullocks. Baal’s prophets are to cut to pieces one 
beast and place it on wood and Elijah is to serve 
the other in like manner. Baal’s prophets are then 
to call on their god to send fire to consume their 


119 


THE KINGDOM OF ISRAEL. 

sacrifice. If their god fails to send fire Elijah is to 
try his God; and this is to be the test of the powers 
of the two gods. All things are made ready, and 
Baal’s prophets call on their god from morning till 
noon, but no fire comes, and the hungry crowd become 
impatient for their dinner. Elijah now begins to 
mock them and uses a little sarcasm. “ Cry aloud,” 
says he, “ for he is a god; either he is talking or he is 
pursuing, or he is in a journey, or, peradventure, he 
sleepeth and must be awakened.” But all that Baal’s 
prophets could do was of no effect. Eire would not 
come down. It was now Elijah’s turn; and after 
fixing up an altar and preparing his sacrifice, he told 
the people to throw a goodly lot of water on the 
wood, so that there could be no deception about the 
altar, and he would try his God. All things being 
prepared, he called upon the Lord God and fire came 
down and made a clean sweep of everything. It not 
only consumed the beef and the wood, but the stones 
and the dust also; and even licked up the water. 
When the people saw it they fell on their faces and 
said, “ The Lord, He is the God.” Elijah, after this 
miracle, was transformed at once from a man who 
had been hiding here and there for some years 
to a commander, not only of the people, but of 
the king also. He commanded the people to seize 
the prophets of Baal, four hundred and fifty in 
number; and he took them down to the brook 
Kishon and slew them there. He told Ahab to 
get up and eat and drink, for there was a sound 
of abundance of rain. Elijah went to the top 
of Mount Carmel and took an humble position and 
directed his servant to look toward the sea seven 
times. On the seventh time the servant saw a little 
cloud arise, the size of a man’s hand; and in the 
meantime the heavens grew thick and black with 
clouds and wind; and there was great rain. The 
storm came so rapidly that Elijah felt some concern 
for Ahab, and sent his servant to tell him to get into 
his chariot with all speed, lest the rain should stop 


120 


THE KINGDOM OF ISRAEL. 


him. “ And the hand of the Lord was upon Elijah, 
and he girded up his loins and ran before Ahab to 
the entrance of Jezreel.” The king seems to have 
lost all power for the time, for he had stood passively 
by and seen Elijah slay the four hundred and fifty 
prophets of Baal with the sword without showing the 
least resistance. But as soon as Ahab reached Jezreel 
he informed Jezebel, his wife, what Elijah had done. 
Jezebel did not take the matter so quietly, but sent a 
messenger to say to the prophet, “ So let the gods do 
to me, and more also, if I make not thy life as the 
life of one of them by to-morrow about this time.” 
When Elijah received Jezebel’s message he ran for his 
life, and went to Beer-sheba, where he left his servant, 
and went himself a day’s journey into the wilderness. 
He sat down under a juniper tree and asked God to 
take away his life, for he was no better than his 
fathers. As the old prophet lay and slept under the 
tree an angel came and touched him and told him to 
arise and eat. He awoke and saw a cake and a cruse 
of water by his head, and did as the angel bid him; 
and then laid him down again. The angel touched 
him again; and again told him to eat and drink, for 
the journey was too great for him. “And he arose 
and did eat and drink, and went in the strength of 
that meat forty days and forty nights, unto Horeb, 
the mount of God.” Elijah went into a cave to lodge. 
While there the Lord asked him what he was doing 
in that place. Elijah answered and said, “I have 
been very zealous for the Lord God of hosts; for the 
children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown 
down thine altars and slain thy prophets with the 
sword; and I, even I only am left; and they seek my 
life, to take it away.” God told him to go forth and 
stand upon the mount. When the prophet took his 
position the Lord passed by, and a strong wind rent 
the mountain and brake the rocks in pieces, but the 
Lord was not in the wind. After the wind an earth¬ 
quake, after the earthquake fire, but the Lord was in 
neither; and after the fire “ a still small voice ” 


THE KINGDOM OF ISRAEL. i2l 

When Elijah heard the “still small voice” he went 
to the entrance of the cave and was again asked, 
“ What doest thon here, Elijah ? ” The prophet made 
the same answer as above. The Lord told him to 
return on his way back to Israel, by the wilderness of 
Damascus, and anoint Hazael to be king over Syria, 
and Jehu to be king over Israel, and Elisha .to be 
prophet, to succeed himself. Then said the Lord, 
“Him that escapeth the sword of Hazael shall Jehu 
slay, and him that escapeth the sword of Jehu shall 
Elisha slay.” The Lord then declares that he has 
only seven thousand in all Israel who have not 
kneeled to Baal and kissed him with their lips. 
Elijah then departed and met with Elisha whom he 
anointed to he prophet; but for some cause, not 
mentioned, he anointed neither Hazael nor Jehu. 

About this time Ben-hadad, king of Syria, sought 
a quarrel with Ahab, by demanding the latter’s silver 
and gold and wives and children. Ahab agreed to 
give up these, but the king of Syria demanded more. 
War ensued, in which the Syrian king was defeated, 
but at the beginning of the year he returned with a 
like army and was again defeated, losing one hundred 
thousand men in one day; after which the Syrians 
fled to Aphek, where a wall fell upon them and 
killed twenty thousand more. By the last defeat the 
king of Syria was sorely humbled; and he and some 
of his companions went out as supplicants to Ahab, 
clothed in sackcloth, with ropes about their necks, to 
ask for mercy. Ahab treated them very kindly, and 
called Ben-hadad his brother. Ahab caused the 
Syrian king to get up into his chariot, and the two 
made a covenant by which it was agreed that the 
Syrian king should restore the cities to Ahab that 
Ben-hadad’s father had taken from Ahab’s father; 
and also Ahab was to be allowed to make streets for 
himself in Damascus, as Ben-hadad’s father had made 
streets in Samaria. This covenant between the two 
kings brought down the anger of the Lord upon the 
head of Ahab; for God had appointed Ben-hadad to 

12 


122 


THE KINGDOM OF ISRAEL. 


utter destruction, and had given him into the hands 
of the king of Israel, who let him go free. A certain 
man, of the sons of the prophets, conceived a plan 
to make Ahab condemn himself for his disobedience 
to God in letting the Syrian king live. This son of 
the prophets told his neighbor to smite him; but the 
neighbor refused to do it; and on account of the 
refusal, the son of the prophets told his neighbor that 
he should be slain by a lion as soon as he departed 
from him. This, it appears, occurred, for a lion slew 
him as soon as he left this son of the prophets. 

Let us pause a moment and ask, where did all these 
lions come from that slew men so frequently? It 
appears that these prophets and sons of prophets could 
have a lion or a bear appear at any moment or place, 
to devour or slay persons who offended them, or who 
were disobedient to their commands. They could 
have them appear when the ground was covered with 
snow in the winter, as well as in the summer; and in 
a thickly inhabited section as well as in the wilderness. 
Such silly stories might do for nursery tales, but they 
are too foolish to tell to intelligent people. And such 
stories, being a part of what is called the word of God, 
are enough to condemn the whole of it as legendary, 
and unworthy its high claims. 

What this tale had to do with the prophet’s plan to 
make Ahab condemn himself, I cannot conceive, 
unless the smiting was to cause a wound on his face, 
so as to make it bleed and give him the appearance of 
a wounded man from the late battle. The next man 
he asked, smote and wounded him, and then the 
prophet disguised himself by putting ashes on his 
face, and waited till the king came. He told Ahab 
that a man had been left in his (the prophet’s) charge 
on the battle field; and he was charged not to let the 
man go, under forfeiture of his own life. But in the 
excitement of the battle, the man slipped away. Then 
said the king, “So shall thy judgment be.” But the 
man cleaned his face, and the king discerned that he 
was a prophet. He then said to the king, “ Thus 


THE KINO DOM OF ISRAEL. 


123 


saith the Lord, because thou hast let go out of thy 
hand a man, whom I appointed to utter destruction, 
therefore thy life shall go for his life, and thy people 
for his people.” 

Next comes the story about Naboth’s vineyard 
which Ahab tried to get in exchange for another, or 
for its worth in money; but Naboth would not part 
with it on any conditions. The king wanted it for a 
garden for herbs, as it was near his palace, and the 
refusal made him feel very despondent. But when 
Jezebel learned that Naboth had refused it to the king, 
she set to work at once to obtain it at the expense of 
the owner’s life. Jezebel always acted on the impulse 
of the moment, and was not to be thwarted by light 
obstacles when she undertook to do anything; and 
this case was not an exception to the general rule. 
She bribed men to accuse Naboth of blaspheming God 
and the king; and Naboth was stoned to death, and 
the king took possession of the garden. 

Here we see set forth a strange mixture of Mosaic 
law with idolatrous worship. The Israelites seem here, 
to be judged by the so-called Mosaic law, while they 
worship other gods than that of Moses; for we have 
seen above, that God declared to Elijah, that there 
were only seven thousand in all Israel, that had not 
bent the knee to Baal and kissed him. And although 
this same God of Moses is continually sending mes¬ 
sages to Ahab, and gaining great victories for him, 
Ahab never worships him any more than does Jezebel 
his wife. 

But the transaction in regard to the vineyard shows 
plainly that Ahab, left to himself, had a good degree 
of honesty about him in his dealings; for he tried to 
get the vineyard in a fair way; and his feeling 
despondent at the refusal, plainly shows that he did 
not intend to obtain it by kingly prerogatives, nor by 
any unfair means. But the ever blood-thirsty Jezebel 
was not so conscientious and she soon obtained it at 
the price of blood. Then came the word of God to 
Elijah, commanding him to go and meet Ahab when 


124 


THE KINGDOM OF ISRAEL . 


lie goes to possess the vineyard, and declare to him his 
doom. God is out of all patience now with the king, 
and declares that the dogs shall lick up his blood and 
shall help to eat up his posterity; and what the dogs 
do not eat of it, the fowls of the air shall. God 
declares also, that the dogs shall eat Jezebel by the 
wall of Jezreel. After hearing the above declarations 
of evils that were to fall on himself and family, the 
king must have repented for once, for he rent his 
clothes and put on sack cloth next his flesh and 
fasted and lay on sackcloth and went softly. Elijah’s 
god evidently thought that he had gained a victory 
over Ahab at last, for he said to the old prophet, 
“Seeth thou how he humbleth himself before me?” 
and then, with a good deal of charity for Ahab, 
continued; “ Because he humbleth himself before me, 

I will not bring the evil in his days; but in the days 
of his son will I bring the evil upon his house.” 

There was peace now for about three years between 
Israel and Syria. But about the end of the third 
year, Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, went down to 
Samaria to see the king of Israel ; and while there, 
Ahab conceived the idea of going to retake Bamoth, 
in Gilead, from Syria. Ahab invited the king of 
Judah to go with him to the war, for the two kings 
were on very good terms at that time. But Jehosha¬ 
phat wanted to hear from the prophets before starting- 
on such an adventure; 1o learn if they approved of it. 
So the king of Israel gathered together about four 
hundred of these wise men; and with one consent, 
they advised in favor of the enterprise. Jehoshaphat 
inquired if there was not a prophet of the Lord 
besides these. Ahab said there was one more, Mieaiah 
by name, but he hated him, for he did not prophesy 
good concerning him. But this hated prophet was 
brought before the king, and as usual, he prophesied 
evil concerning Ahab, and foretold his destruction; 
declaring at the same time, that the Lord had put a 
lying spirit into the mouths of the other prophets. 
Whereupon one of the other prophets smote Mieaiah 


THE KINGDOM OF ISRAEL. 


125 


on the cheek, and the king ordered his officer to take 
him to prison, and feed him on bread of affliction and 
to give him water of affliction until he returned in 
peace. But Micaiah declared that if Ahab returned 
in peace, the Lord had not spoken by him. Never¬ 
theless Ahab went to the battle accompanied by 
Jehoshaphat. Ahad thought to escape death by 
going into battle dressed in disguise; but an arrow 
that was shot at a venture by a Syrian, wounded him, 
and he died after a few hours. Now Elijah had said 
that the dogs should lick up Ahab’s blood; so to make 
the old prophet’s words good, the chariot in which 
Ahab bled to death, was washed in the pool of 
Samaria, and the dogs got some of the blood by 
drinking at the pool. 

It seems to me that the story would have been 
improved if the dogs had been made to jump into the 
chariot and lick up the blood there, for they could 
scarcely have gotten a taste by drinking at the pool. 

The author of Kings should have closed his remarks 
about Ahab, as soon as he had hurried him in 
Samaria, and not have taxed the credulity of his 
readers by saying that Ahab built an ivory house. 
We must admit that the prophets always had plenty 
of lions lying in ambush; but elephants were not so 
plentiful among them. 



32 * 


126 THE KINGDOM OF ISRAEL CONCLUDED. 


CHAPTER XVI. 


THE KINGDOM OF ISRAEL CONCLUDED. 

Ahaziah, the eighth king of Israel, ascended the 
throne of his father, about B. C. 897. This king 
must have entered upon his duties with many mis¬ 
givings, if he had ever known any of Elijah’s 
prophesies to come to pass; for surely, vengeance 
upon the house of Ahab, had been breathed from the 
old prophet time after time; and Elijah’s god had 
been waiting for Ahab to die, so that he could wreak 
his vengeance upon his son. As soon as Ahaziah 
began to reign, troubles came thick and fast. Moab 
rebelled at once, and the king accidently fell through 
a lattice work and suffered from the injuries received. 
He sent messengers to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god 
of Ekron, whether he would get well. But these 
messengers were met by Elijah, who had been hiding 
somewhere for an indefinite period, but who came out 
now to tell these men to go back and inform the king 
that he should never come down from that bed, but 
should surely die. Elijah then departed to the top of 
a hill. The king sent a captain with fifty men to 
bring the prophet down from where he sat; but when 
the captain bid Elijah to come down, the latter called 
fire down from heaven to consume the officer with his 
fifty men; and they were all consumed. A second 
captain and fifty men were sent, and they were all 
consumed in like manner. It might seem by this 
time, that no more men would risk their lives in such 
a place; but a third captain was sent with his fifty. 
But this one took the precaution to fall on his knees 



THE KINGDOM OF ISRAEL CONCLUDED. 127 


in approaching Elijah, and to plead for mercy and his 
life. This had the desired effect; and an angel came 
and told Elijah to go down with the captain, and be 
not afraid. So he went down to the king, and 
delivered him the following message: “ Thus saith the 
Lord, for as much as thou hast sent messengers to 
inquire of Baal-zebub the god of Ekron, is it not 
because there is no God in Israel to inquire of his 
word? therefore thou shalt not come down off that 
bed on which thou art gone up, but shalt surely die.” 
So Ahaziah died after an unhappy reign of between 
one and two years. On the death of the last king, 
Jehoram, his brother, succeeded to the throne and 
reigned about twelve years, from B. 0. 896 to 884. 

But Elijah’s mission on earth was about fulfilled, - 
and it appears that even his body was too pure to be 
left on this rude sphere; therefore he was taken up to 
heaven body and soul. Elijah left Gilgal, accom¬ 
panied by Elisha, his successor; but the former made 
as if he wished to go alone, first to Beth-el, next to 
Jericho, and finally to the Jordan. But Elisha would 
not hear to this, and declared that he would not leave 
his master. 

When they came to the river, the two stood there 
together, and Elijah folded together his mantle and 
smote the waters so that they parted, and the prophets 
went over on dry land. When on the other side, 
Elijah asked his companion what he should do for 
him before he (Elijah) should be taken away. Elisha 
asked that a double portion of Elijah’s spirit fall 
upon him. Elijah said he had asked a hard thing; 
nevertheless it should be so if Elisha saw him go. 
They went on and talked together, and presently they 
were parted asunder by a chariot of fire and horses of 
fire. “And Elijah went up by a whirlwind into 
heaven, and Elisha saw it.” The old prophet let his 
mantle fall as he was ascending, and Elisha took it 
and stood by the bank of the Jordan, and smote the 
waters, and they again parted, and he crossed over to 
the other side. This departure from earth by Elijah 


128 THE KINGDOM OF ISRAEL CONCLUDED . 


was certainly a grand affair for a man who had been 
sculking about for more than twenty years, from one 
hiding place to another, to keep out of the reach of 
the persecuting and relentless Jezebel, and slayer of 
prophets. But we read that fifty sons of the prophets 
stood at Jericho and witnessed the ascension. These 
sons of prophets desired to’ go and search in the 
mountains for Elijah, thinking the Lord might have 
cast him on the top of them; and against the advice 
of Elisha they went, but Elijah was seen no more. 

One of the first acts of Elisha in his new sphere of 
usefulness, was to heal the waters at Jericho. The 
men of the city came to him and said the situation of 
the city was pleasant, but the waters were naught and 
the land was barren. The prophet bid the men to 
bring him a new cruse with salt in it, and this was 
done; and he said, “Thus saith the Lord, I have 
healed these waters; there shall not be from thence, 
any more death or barren land.” This if true, was a 
real and lasting benefit to the city; and Elisha 
deserved the gratitude of its people forever. 

In the healing of the waters of Jericho as recorded, 
Elisha certainly bestowed a great favor on the thirsty 
people of that city. The act spoke volumes for the 
new prophet. But it is a great pity that the author of 
Second Kings did not let well enough alone; for when 
we compare the prophet’s first act with the second, it 
is like falling from the sublime to the ridiculous— 
like falling from the heights of merited fame, to the 
slime pits of all that is filthy and unwholesome. This 
new prophet, who had received a double portion of 
Elijah’s spirit, and was wrapped in the mantle of his 
old master, started to go from Jericho to Beth-el. On 
his way, he was met by a company of little children, 
who mocked him and said, “ Go up thou bald-head, 
go up.” These were little children and they did the 
prophet a wrong; but at the same time, they gave him 
an opportunity to show his godliness by trying to 
impart to them a little of his spirituality and by trying 
to show them the error of their ways, and to teach 


TEE KINGDOM OF ISRAEL CONCLUDED. 129 


them better manners. Had he taken this course, he 
would have shown himself to be a good man and a 
man of God in reality; and these little ones might 
have lived to bless his name. But Elisha did not do 
this, but he did the thing we might least have 
expected him to do; he turned about and cursed them 
in the name of the Lord; “And there came forth two 
she-bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two 
children of them.” Such wretched, sullen hatred and 
cowardly revenge might spring from a loathsome and 
distempered soul, but never from one that had a ray 
of God’s spirit penetrating its secret depths. Such a 
story can be naught but fable that was gotten up and 
told in olden times, to frighten children to obedience. 

When Jehoram became king he continued to trans¬ 
gress and do wickedly; hut not in so great a degree 
as did his father and mother before him. The kings 
of Moab had paid tribute to the kings of Israel for 
several generations, but during Ahaziah’s unfortunate 
reign the Moabites rebelled and refused to pay tribute 
to Israel. This deprived the present king of Israel of 
an annual revenue of one hundred thousand lambs 
and as many rams with their wool. 

Nothing can be more evident than that the author 
of the Book of Kings was here dealing with fiction 
and unwritten tradition. The Numbers are too large, 
therefore untrue. Moab was a small district, io make 
the most of it; not exceeding twenty-five or thirty 
miles square, and much of that poorly watered and 
unproductive. Now, in order to pay to Israel two 
hundred thousand sheep yearly, it would be necessary 
to keep on hand at all times two hundred thousand 
ewes; for no flock would more than double in a year, 
after deducting losses from accident and disease. 
But the Moabites required food also; and if we allow 
only one hundred thousand for their use, the sum 
total of the increase of sheep in the little district of 
Moab would be three hundred thousand yearly, 
exclusive of all losses whatever; and this would 
imply that the sum total of the sheep kept in Moab 


130 THE KINGDOM OF ISRAEL CONCLUDED. 


was at least six or seven hundred thousand all the 
the time. An utter impossibility. 

Jehoram, wishing to re-subdue the Moabites, but 
not feeling equal to the undertaking, renewed the 
league with Judah; and the two kings marched by 
the way of Edom, and united their forces with those 
of that country; and the three kings marched with 
their armies to the destruction of Moah. After seven 
days, they became destitute of water for both man 
and beast. The king of Israel saw the situation and 
feared that God had brought them there to give them 
into the hands of the Moabites. But Jehoshaphat, 
king of Judah, inquired if there was not a prophet 
among them, that they might inquire of the Lord 
about this matter. Elisha was in the camp, and the 
three kings went to see him. The prophet saw their 
dependence on him, and indulged in a little sarcasm 
towards the king of Israel. “What have I to do with 
thee?” said he, “get thee to the prophets of thy 
father and to the prophets of thy mother; as the 
Lord of hosts liveth before whom I stand, surely 
were it not that I regard the presence of Jehosha¬ 
phat the king of Judah, 1 would not look toward thee 
nor see thee.” Elisha called for a minstrel to play 
before him, (in this he imitated Saul). When the 
minstrel played, the word of the Lord came to him, 
and he hid the kings to dig ditches all through the 
valleys and they should be filled with water; yet there 
should be neither wind nor rain. The next morning 
at the time of the meat offering, there came water by 
the way of Edom, and the country was flooded. 
Elisha also told them that the Moabites should fall 
into their hands; and he commanded them to smite 
every fenced city, to stop up the wells and to mar 
every choice piece of land by throwing stones over it. 
These orders were partially executed. But after the 
Moabites had suffered a terrible defeat, and had tried 
many ways to repel the enemy, the king of Moab 
finally offered bis eldest son, who was heir to the 
throne, for a burnt-offering on the wall. This act of 


THE KINGDOM OF ISRAEL CONCLUDED. 131 

the king of Moab, caused great indignation among his 
people against Israel. And the allied armies must 
have become frightened at their situation, for they 
retreated at once, and went back to their own 
countries without accomplishing what they went to 
do, notwithstanding Elisha’s great promises. Elisha’s 
next miracle was done to relieve a widow who was in 
debt. He filled from some mysterious source, all the 
vessels with oil, that the woman could borrow or 
collect together, so that she could sell the oil and pay 
her debts with the proceeds and thereby save her two 
sons from bondage. Elisha and his servant Gehazi 
traveled a good deal from place to place, and often 
received the hospitality of the people by the way. 
They frequently put up with a great woman, a Shume- 
nite, when on their way to Shumen. She even fitted up 
a little room for the prophet’s special accommodation 
when he went that way, all free of charge. On one of 
these occasions, Elisha told Gehazi to call their kind 
hostess to his room, for he thought he ought to repay 
her for her kindness to them. And when the good 
old lady appeared, she was asked if a good word 
should be spoken for her to the king, or to the captain 
of the host. The woman said no, she dwelt among 
her own people. When Elisha and his servant were 
left by themselves again, the prophet asked Gehazi 
what could be done for the good woman any way. 
Gehazi bethought him that their hostess had no child, 
and her husband was old and told his master that a 
son would please her. Elisha bid his servant to call 
her to his room again; he did so, and the woman came 
and stood before the prophet, who told her that in 
due season she should embrace a son. The woman 
could hardly believe it, and told the man of God not 
to lie to her. But Elisha knew what he was about, 
and in due time, the woman gave birth to a son. 

A child thus given richly repaid the lady for all 
her hospitality to the prophet; but it must not be 
supposed such a child could grow up without some 
peculiar history. Accordingly, when he had become 


132 THE KINGDOM OF ISRAEL CONCLUDED. 


quite a large boy, he was taken sick and died; where¬ 
upon the mother hastened to Elisha; and when she 
came to him she seized him by the feet and said, 
“ Did I not say, Do not deceive me ? ” The old 
prophet saw trouble ahead unless he restored the 
child to life. Therefore, he sent his servant on 
before him with his staff and bid him lay it on the 
boy’s face; and then' made all haste himself until he 
reached the house where the boy lay dead. Elisha 
stretched himself upon the child until its flesh grew 
warm, and then he walked about the room for a few 
moments; after which he stretched himself upon the 
child again; and it sneezed seven times and then 
opened its eyes. The boy was thus restored to life 
again and given to its happy mother. Such stories as 
the above seem to have but little to do with the 
national life of Israel, but as the historical events were 
mostly spasmodic and widely separated by time accord¬ 
ing to the narrative, these stories must have been put 
in to round up the account. 

Elisha went to Gilgal and a large number of the 
lazy sons of the prophets sat there in want of some¬ 
thing to eat; so he told his servant to put on the 
great pot and seethe potage for them. A poisonous 
herb got mixed in, which was not discovered until 
they began to eat; and some of them cried out, 
“There is death in the pot;” whereupon the old 
prophet threw a little meal into the pot which made 
the pottage wholesome, and they partook of it without 
harm. 

Eaaman, captain of the host of Syria, was a great 
man, but he had the misfortune to be a leper; and 
hearing, through a Jewish maiden who lived in his 
family, that Elisha could do wonderful cures, he 
made a journey to Samaria to see him. When he 
came to the prophet’s door Elisha sent a messenger to 
tell him to go and wash in the Jordan seven times 
and he would be cured. But Naaman went away in 
a rage, for he thought this was too simple a thing 
to do after coming so far, believing that the waters of 


THE KINGDOM OF ISRAEL CONCLUDED. 133 


Syria were as good as those of the Jordan. But 
Naaman’s servant prevailed on him to try it; and, to 
his great delight, he was made clean. Naaman then 
went back to give Elisha a reward, but the prophet 
would receive none, but told him to go in peace. 

After the Syrian had departed Gehazi bethought 
himself that as his master had received nothing from 
him for the great cure, it would be no harm for him 
to take a little; so he followed and overtook Naaman 
and received a goodly gift and then returned to his 
master. Elisha asked his servant where he had been ; 
but Gehazi said he had not been away; but the 


knew better, and even told his servant what 



he had done. Now we must admit that Gehazi had 
committed a fault, but the punishment that the 
prophet inflicted upon his old servant was too great 
for the offense. “ Is it a time to receive money and to 
receive garments?” said Elisha; “the leprosy, there¬ 
fore, of Naaman shall cleave to thee and to thy seed 
forever.” And Gehazi went out from the presence of 
the prophet as white as snow. 

We might infer from the accounts of Elisha’s deeds 
that he was possessed of powers little short of those 
of the I)iety; for it appears that he did not have to 
wait to consult God as the other prophets did before 
acting; but he spoke and all things obeyed his 
command. He could part the waters of the Jordan 
and walk over dry shod; he could make the waters of 
bitter springs pure and wholesome for all time; he 
could call bears out of the woods where bears did 
not exist, for the purpose of tearing little children to 
pieces; he could flood a desert country with water 
under a clear sky; he could fill a widow’s vessels witli 
oil from an unreal and mysterious source; he could 
give a child where conception could not be expected; 
and raise a dead child to life again. He could cleanse 
one man of the leprosy and fasten the same disease 
on another and on his posterity forever; and the 
same prophet could do many other equally miraculous 
things, when occasion called for his mysterious work. 


13 


134 THE KINGDOM OF ISRAEL CONCLUDED. 


God’s unchangeable and eternal laws ceased in their 
course at his bidding, and bowed in obedience to his 
will. Yet, with all this God-like power, the prophet 
could stoop to petty personal revenge. 

Next in order comes a little story about Elisha’s 
making an iron axe swim; but this was such a trifling 
act, compared with many other things that he did, 
that it is scarcely worth mentioning; and could have 
been invented for no purpose but to add one more 
item to his mysterious works. 

Shortly after Elisha made the axe swim the king of 
Syria made war against Israel; but was thwarted in 
his attempt to entrap the Israelites, through the 
efforts of the prophet; whereupon the Syrians try to 
capture Elisha; but this proved equally fruitless; for 
the Lord stepped in between and smote the Syrians 
with blindness. Elisha, by deception, led a company 
of the Syrians into the city of Samaria and then 
advised the king to feed them and send them away. 
This was done and the Syrians troubled the Israelites 
no more at that time. 

But in the course of a year or two afterwards the 
Syrians besieged the city of Samaria again, so that 
the people were brought to the point of starvation. 
We read that the hunger was so great among the 
Israelites that two women, each of whom had a son, 
agreed to eat their children. One was to cook her 
son one day and the other was to follow the example 
on the next day. One of these poor women acted in 
good faith and her son was eaten; and on the next 
day the other son was to be dished up; but its mother 
hid the child and deprived her neighbor of the 
expected meal; whereupon the latter complained 
about the matter to the king, who, when he learned 
the facts, put on sackcloth next his skin. The king, 
believing that Elisha was to blame for all this misery, 
declared that the old prophet’s head should come oft*. 
But Elisha began now to bestir himself and promised 
that food should be plenty in Samaria the next day. 
This proved to be the case, for the Lord frightened 


THE KINO DOM OF ISRAEL CONCLUDED. 135 


the Syrians away that night in such haste that they 
fled, leaving their camp with all its supplies behind, 
which the Israelites took possession of the next day. 

Some twenty years before this last invasion of 
Samaria by the Syrians, an angel appeared to Elijah in 
southern Judah, as already detailed in the preceding 
chapter; and told the prophet to go up towards 
Damascus and anoint Elisha to succeed him, and to 
anoint Jehu to be king over Israel, and Hazael to be 
king of Syria. These three were to utterly destroy 
the house of Ahab, so that not one should be left. 
But on some account, not explained, Elijah anointed 
neither Jehu nor Hazael, but Elisha only; and the 
latter now executed that part of the command which 
Elijah failed to do. 

As soon as Jehu was anointed he made cpiick work 
of destroying the house of Ahab. He drove furiously 
to Samaria where Jehoram, the king of Israel, and 
Ahaziah, king of Judah, both were at the time; and 
Jehu slew the king of Israel by shooting an arrow 
through his heart. The king of Judah, a grandson 
of Ahab, fled, but was soon captured and slain; and 
the next to fall was Jezebel, widow of Ahab, who was 
slain by being thrown out of a window, by order of 
Jehu. Seventy sons of Ahab still lived in Samaria, 
with the great men of that place, who had brought 
them up. The guardians of these young men stood 
in such great fear of Jehu that at the latter’s com¬ 
mand they cut off their heads, which they carried in 
baskets to the new king as a pledge of their own 
submission. When Jehu learned that the heads had 
arrived at Jezreel, he ordered them to be placed in 
two heaps at the entrance of the gate till morning. 
In the morning the king went out and said to the 
people, “ Ye be righteous? behold, I conspired against 
my master and slew him, but who slew all these?” 
We plainly see in this little speech that Jehu admits 
his own guilt and gloats over the opportunity given 
him to justly accuse the people of a like crime. But 
at the same time he declares that God is at the bottom 


136 THE KINGDOM OF ISRAEL CONCLUDED. 


of all this infamy. But although so much blood had 
•already been shed by the new king, and the house of 
Ahab entirely cut off, the slaughter was not yet 
ended. Jehu called the people together and told 
them that Ahab served Baal a little, but he would 
serve him much. He requested that all the prophets, 
priests and servants of Baal, that still remained, be 
called together, for he had a great sacrifice to offer 
to that god; and he wanted the worshippers of Baal 
to be present to a man. A solemn assembly for Baal 
was proclaimed; and when the worshippers of that 
god went into the house to sacrifice, Jehu appointed 
eighty men to slay them. Thus Jehu, within a short 
space of time, destroyed the entire house of Ahab 
and crushed the worshippers of Baal; and for this 
wholesale slaughter God promised him that his 
children, to the fourth generation, should sit on the 
throne of Israel. But why such a promise to such a 
man ? Jehu was no worshipper of the true God; 
for while he put down the worship of Baal he followed 
in the sins of Jeroboam and petted the calves which 
that king made and set up, the one in Bethel and the 
other in Dan. We learn but little more'about Jehu’s 
reign, except that towards the close we find Hazael, 
king of Syria, encroaching largely upon the Israelitish 
territory. And we may infer that before the end of 
Jehu’s reign, which lasted twenty-eight years, from 
B. C. 884 to 856, he lost all of his possessions east of 
the Jordan and paid tribute, once at least, to the king 
of Assyria. 

On the death of Jehu, his son Jehoahaz became king 
B. 0. 856, and reigned seventeen years. This king, 
the eleventh in Israel, transgressed, as did his father, 
by following in the sins of Jeroboam. During this 
reign Hazael, king of Syria, sorely oppressed Israel 
and reduced the army of the latter country so low 
that the king had only fifty horsemen, ten chariots and 
ten thousand footmen at his command. His power 
was nominal rather than real. We read that this king 
besought the Lord, in his extreme distress, and the 


THE KINGDOM OF ISRAEL CONCLUDED. 137 

Lord sent Israel a saviour, so that they went out from 
under the hand of the Syrian and dwelt in their own 
tents. But as we are also told in connection with 
this that Hazael and Ben-hadad, his son, oppressed 
Israel in their days, it is not likely that this savior 
relieved the Israelites to any great extent. And it is 
strange that Jehoahaz besought the Lord and received 
a favor from Him, while at the same time he con¬ 
tinued in his sins and worshipped the calves. 

We have but few details given us about the acts of 
this king, but he was succeeded by Joash, his son, the 
twelfth king of Israel, B. C. 839. Joash reigned 
sixteen years and followed in the sins of Jeroboam 
and departed not therefrom. We have learned nothing 
about the prophet Elisha for about half a century, or 
since about the time that Jehu was anointed king. 
But now in the reign of Joash he comes to light 
again to say good-bye before he leaves us forever. We 
find that the old prophet is sick near unto death and 
the king goes to see him. While Elisha lies sick 
upon his bed he tells Joash to take a bow and arrow 
and point eastward out of the window. Elisha then 
puts his own hand upon that of the king and tells 
Joash to shoot. The arrow is sent and the prophet 
exclaims, “The arrow of the Lord’s deliverance of 
Israel from Syria.” After the above performance 
Elisha told the king to smite the ground with his 
arrow and he smote thrice. The prophet was wroth 
at this and said, “Thou shouldst have smitten five 
or six times, then hadst thou smitten Syria till thou 
hadst consumed it, whereas now, thou slialt smite 
Syria but thrice.” 

Whether Elisha ever uttered this last prophesy 
charged to him or not, the author of Kings would 
have done his*prophetic vision a favor by omitting it; 
for there is not a sentence in the whole Bible that 
contains less sense. The old man simply tells the 
king to smite the ground and he smites it thrice 
without knowing how many times he should smite it. 
The prophet’s anger was raised and he then told the 
13* 


138 THE KINGDOM OF ISRAEL CONCLUDED. 


king that he should have smitten tlie ground fiv e or 
six times; for the overthrow of Syria depended 011 
the simple act. If such an interview ever took place 
between Joash and Elisha, it shows plainly that the 
latter was in his dotage. It may be claimed that the 
prophesy was fulfilled; but I ask, How do we know 
that? for we are simply told that Joash re-captured 
the cities that his father had lost and beat the Syrians 
three times; but this, like nearly all of the prophecies 
in the Bible, was recorded by the same author that 
recorded the fulfillment of the same; and the author 
got his account from tradition. 

Amaziah, king of Judah, picked a quarrel with 
Joash, requesting the latter to let him see his face. 
Joash accepted the challenge and defeated Amaziah, 
took him prisoner and carried him to Iiis own capital 
Samaria. He also broke down the wall of Jerusalem 
for a distance of four hundred cubits, stripped the 
temple and the king’s house of their treasures and 
carried the spoils to Samaria. What the result of 
this victory over Judah was is left to our own imagi¬ 
nation, for the account is brought to a close abruptly; 
but it is evident that Amaziah was allowed to return 
to Jerusalem shortly after his capture and reign as 
before. Joash died after reigning sixteen years, and 
was succeeded by Jeroboam his son, thirteenth king 
of Israel, B. C. 823. Jeroboam II. seems to have been 
a very war-like king, and under him the Israelitish 
kingdom seems to have reached its acme of prosperity. 
This king recovered all or nearly all of the territory 
lost by his predecessors. We are told that he even 
brought Damascus under his rule; but the subsequent 
history of Israel does not bear out such a statement; 
therefore it is safe to conclude that such was not 
the fact. 

The character of Jeroboam II. does not differ much 
from Jeroboam I. The one sinned continually as did 
the other; yet each was an instrument in the hands of 
God, carrying out measures under his guidance. And 
each of these kings, like all the other kings of Israel, 


THE KINGDOM OF ISRAEL CONCLUDED. 139 


had more faith in the calves at Beth-el and Dan, than 
they had in their so-called national God; and this too, 
at times when it is said, they were in direct communi¬ 
cation with that God. Jeroboam is said to have 
reigned forty-one years, a time of sufficient length to 
have allowed him ample time to consolidate his 
conquests. 

Jeroboam II. was succeeded by Zachariah, his son, 
the fourteenth king of Israel, B. 0. 772. This made 
good the promise of Jehu’s god; for he said Jehu’s 
children to the fourth generation should sit on the 
throne of Israel. But the reign of Zachariah lasted 
but six months; for at the end of that time, Shallum 
conspired against him and slew him and usurped the 
throne. But now the kingdom and throne had become 
alike unstable and uncertain; one assassination fol¬ 
lowed another and new and powerful enemies were 
soon to blot the nation out of existence forever. 

Shallum had reigned but one month when he was 
slain by Menahem, sixteenth king of Israel, B. 0. 772. 
Menaliem, after he usurped the throne, showed an 
enterprising spirit and subdued city after city as he 
marched toward the north, committing the most 
barbarous cruelties on his helpless captives of both 
sexes, until at last, he encroached too much on the 
borders of the Assyrian empire, the power of which 
was thrown against him and he saved himself and 
kingdom for the time, only by paying a heavy tribute 
to the Assyrians, at the expense of his subjects. If 
there is any truth in the account of this king’s reign, 
I can only wonder why the God of Israel, if he had 
any power to prevent, suffered such barbarous cruel¬ 
ties to be inflicted on the helpless innocent, by this 
cruel usurper of the regal powers. At his death, after 
a reign of ten years, Menahem left the crown to 
Pekahiah, his son, the seventeenth king of Israel, B. 
C. 762. Pekahiah held the throne but two years, for 
he was then assassinated by Pekah, his captain, who 
usurped the throne B. 0. 760. 


140 the KINGDOM OF ISRAEL CONCLUDED. 


Pekah, the eighteenth king of Israel, reigned, 
according to the narrative, twenty years; but this 
period seems to be too short to fill up required time, 
and the reign is extended to thirty years by some 
authorities. During this reign the Assyrians invaded 
Israel and conquered the northern portions of it, and 
also the country east of the Jordan, carrying back 
with them to Assyria portions of a number of the 
tribes captive. Pekah, king of Israel, and Rezin, king 
of Syria, united their forces and laid seige to Jeru¬ 
salem. But Ahaz, king of Judah, made a submissive 
alliance with the king of Assyria, and was aided by 
that king, who took Damascus and slew the Syrian 
king. Pekah, after reigning twenty or thirty years, 
was slain by Hoshea, who succeeded him, B. 0. 730, 
and reigned nine years. 

Hoshea, the nineteenth and last king of Israel, 
sinned less than his predecessors; but this did not save 
him; for he had not been long on the throne when 
Shelmaneser, king of Assyria, invaded the land and 
reduced Hoshea to the condition of a tributary king. 
He paid yearly tribute to the Assyrians a few times 
and then tried to free himself from the Assyrian yoke 
by seeking alliance with Egypt and withholding his 
yearly presents from the king of Assyria. But in this 
he was mistaken, for he was captured and placed in 
prison and the Assyrians besieged and took Samaria 
in the ninth year of Hosliea’s reign and carried Israel 
into captivity. The Israelites were taken to various 
parts of the Assyrian empire and scattered among the 
different nationalities of people that helped to make 
up the population of that vast country. 

We have now followed the history of the kingdom 
of Israel from its beginning to its close, and have seen 
its nineteen monarchs sitting on the throne, one after 
another, through a period of about two hundred and 
fifty years, without shedding one ray of light or hope 
or moral influence on the destinies of mankind. 
Though a pretended God-established kingdom, it 
began in conspiracy, continued in al that was vile and 


THE KINGDOM OF ISRAEL CONCLUDED. 141 


base, and ended in corruption. Its first king, Jero¬ 
boam, we are told, was pointed out by God, long years 
before Solomon’s death, to succeed to ten parts out of 
twelve of the single monarchy, at the death of its 
then wise ruler. But if the Hebrew God knew any¬ 
thing He knew just what kind of a king Jeroboam 
would be; therefore he had no reason to complain. 
As the very wise Solomon had raised temples and 
burned incense to other gods, it was no worse for the 
less wise Jeroboam to manufacture calves and make 
pet gods of them. 

But Jeroboam is charged all through the account 
of the kingdom of Israel, of causing the nation to 
sin, while it is evident that from the earliest date of 
the career of the Hebrew people to the close of their 
national life, they sinned in the same way. Take the 
tribes where you will, they had their household gods 
and worshipped them in preference to the Great 
Jehovah. The prophets alone clung to the one-God 
idea, for the priests, as a general rule, were priests to 
any god that they came in contact with, provided 
their slothful duties procured them a living. 

It would seem that, if the kings of Israel had 
received so many communications from God as we 
read about and had been aided so much by that God 
in their troubles with their enemies, a feeling of 
profound and unfeigned reverence would have been 
created in them, that time could not have erased. But 
as we do not find even one of the nineteen kings of 
Israel, who made the God of the prophets his object 
of worship, we may feel assured that none of them 
had faith that God had any control over their national 
affairs, civil or military. 

But the books of Kings were written long after 
the Hebrew people were carried into captivity and 
were compiled from scatterings, rude records and oral 
traditions; and it was less galling to the Jewish 
national pride, to charge their downful to their 
disobedience to God, than to admit that they were 
conquered as other mortals were, in those days, by the 
Assyrians and Babylonians. 


142 


THE KINGDOM OK JUDAH 


CHAPTER XVII. 


THE KINGDOM OF JUDAH. 

We must now retrace our steps and follow the ac¬ 
count of the kingdom of Judah, from its beginning to 
its close, as we have already that of Israel. The division 
of the single monarchy has already been noticed in a 
former chapter and need not be repeated here; it is 
enough to say the heir to the throne acted the part of 
a fool, and the ten tribes justly severed themselves from 
the rule of the would-be tyrant, and set up a govern¬ 
ment for themselves. When Rehoboam, the son of 
Solomon, and first king of Judah, found, to his own 
discomfort, that the ten tribes would not submit to 
the yoke that he threatened to put on them, he fled to 
Jerusalem and assembled the tribes of Judah and Ben¬ 
jamin, one hundred and eighty thousand strong, to 
fight the ten tribes in order to bring them under his 
government. But the word of the Lord came to Sche- 
maiah, the prophet, commanding the king of Judah 
not to fight against Israel, for the kingdom was divided 
of God. Therefore he made no attempt to subdue the 
revolted tribes. It appears that all went well with 
the kingdom of Judah for the first three years of the 
reign of Rehoboam. The king built and fortified 
cities throughout Judah and strengthened the works 
of defence in Jerusalem. But by this time Rehoboam 
began to feel his importance and eschewed the religion 
of the prophets and raised altars to other gods. He 
made images and groves on high places and worshipped 
these instead of in the temple. In this idolatry the 
people joined and took an active part; and from the 



THE KINGDOM OF JUDAH. 


143 


worship of the Great Jehovah the Jews stooped to 
the lowest and worst forms of idolatry known to 
them. Yet, Rehoboam and thousands of others who 
joined in this kind of heathen worship, must have 
been at the dedication of the temple and witnessed 
the wonders performed on that occasion and the 
glories of the God of the prophets. 

But now, that temple, the magnificence of which is 
pictured by the Hebrew writers in such glowing 
terms, was nothing better than a pile of rubbish in 
the eyes of the king and people, so far as its sacred¬ 
ness was concerned. But why should the present 
insignificant king or his subjects hold the temple in 
high regard, when its wise builder, who is made to say 
so many nice things at its dedication, erected so many 
temples to heathen gods, under its very shadow, so 
short a time after the great temple was completed? 
Solomon’s temple, I have no doubt, had an existence, 
but far less less grand and imposing in its structure 
than it appears on paper. Had Rehoboam and his 
people seen what we are told was to be seen at the 
dedication of the temple, they would have been con¬ 
vinced that the God of the prophets ruled them; and 
we should not find them so short a time afterwards, 
stooping to all that is disgusting to intelligence and 
truth. 

But the God of the prophets did not long tolerate 
this neglect of Himself and look passively on without 
resenting such injustice on the part of the people; 
but to punish them for their ingratitude to Him, God 
induced Shishak, king of Egypt, to invade the land 
in the fifth year of Rehoboam’s reign with an immense 
army, by which he took the fenced cities that pertained 
to Judah, entered Jerusalem, took away the treasures 
from the temple and the king’s house, and carried 
away the shields of gold that Solomon had made. 
We are not told of any other particular thing that 
Shishak took away, but he took away all. This all , 
probably, was everything of any value in and about 
the temple. This invasion of Judah and wholesale 


144 


THE KINGDOM OF JUDAH. 


robbery seem to have been done by the Egyptians, 
without any resistance from the Jews whatever. And 
this seems strange, indeed, when less than five years 
before, Rehoboam had been able, on short notice, to 
raise an army of one hundred and eighty thousand 
men with the intention of subduing the revolted 
tribes. With such an army, it would seem, he 
might have defended his fortified capital for a year or 
two at least; and by that time the Egyptians might 
have retired and the Jews have saved the rich treasures 
of their temple. It also seems strange that an enemy 
like the Egyptians did not tear the temple to pieces 
to.procure the tons of gold that so many parts of it 
was overlaid with; but the king and princes of Judah 
humbled themselves before God, and the temple must 
have been saved from total destruction on that account. 
After the Egyptians retired from Judah, Rehoboam 
repaired damages done to the temple by substituting 
brass for gold, and the temple, after that time, was 
evidently of little value, so far as its precious metals 
were concerned. Rehoboam reigned seventeen years, 
during the most of which time he was at war with 
Israel. He left the kingdom to Abijah, or Abijam, 
his son, who reigned only three years, from B. 0. 958 
to 955. 

We find here what seems to be a case of absolute 
evidence that the history of these times was not 
written by contemporary writers; for we are told by 
the author of First Kings that this monarch’s name 
was Abijam and his mother’s name was Maachah, the 
daughter of Abislialom; but in the ninth chapter of 
Second Chronicles we read that his name was Abijah, 
son of Maachah, the daughter of Absalom; while in 
the thirteenth of Second Chronicles w r e read that this 
same king was the son of Michaiah, daughter of Uriel, 
of Gibeah. There is a discrepancy between the first 
two statements and the third that cannot be adjusted, 
and they show conclusively that the different authors 
did not copy from records that were written in the 
times of the earlier kings, but they received their 


THE KINGDOM OE JUDAlI. 


145 


information through sources, the beginning of which 
was oral tradition. Abijali reigned only three years, 
but within that short space of time he so crippled the 
old veteran, Jeroboam, that Israel did not recover 
strength again while Abijah lived. The defeat and 
destruction of Jeroboam’s army, according to the 
account given in the thirteenth chapter of Second 
Chronicles, is most remarkable* Abijah, with an 
army of four hundred thousand men, meets Jeroboam 
with an army of eight hundred thousand men; all 
being mighty men of valor. But before the action 
begins Abijah stands up on an elevated spot in Mount 
Ephraim and makes a set speech to Jeroboam and his 
army. Now, how Abijah could make a speech at 
such a time, in the midst of two such mighty armies, 
and have the opposing king and his soldiers for 
attentive listeners, is too much for ordinary mortals 
to imagine. The twelve hundred thousand soldiers 
• that made up the two armies would cover an 
immense tract of country, and it would be too much 
for the most credulous to believe that Abijah could 
remain near enough to the opposing king to address 
him in any way, and much less to make a. rebuking 
speech to him and his army and they stand quietly 
by and listen to it. Abijah begins his speech 
by saying, “Hear me, thou Jeroboam and all Israel. 
Ought ye not to know that the Lord God of Israel 
gave the kingdom over Israel to David forever ? even 
to him and to his sons by a covenant of salt?” 
Jeroboam might here have asked Abijah, “ Ought ye 
not to know that the Lord God rent the greater part 
of the kingdom from David’s sons, on account of 
Solomon’s sins and gave it to Jeroboam ? ” 

Abijah charges Jeroboam with being a rebel and 
with gathering vain men about him; and also with 
taking advantage of his father, Rehoboam, while he 
was young and tender-hearted. This was ridiculous 
on the part of Abijah, for all accounts agree that 
Rehoboam was forty years old when he began to 
reign; and he certainly was not very tender-hearted 
14 


140 THE KINGDOM OK JUDAH . 

when he said that he would increase the burdens of 
the people and chastise them with scorpions instead 
of with whips as his father had done. Abijah next 
berates the king of Israel about his golden calves and 
his low priests, and points out to him his many 
sins. After all this rebuke to Jeroboam, who stands 
still at the head of eight hundred thousand soldiers 
and takes all of it quietly, Abijah begins to praise 
himself and to show the purity of his own re¬ 
ligion and his observance of the law. But in Kings, 
we read that Abijah followed in all the sins of his 
father before him; and that being the case, he had 
little room to crow over Jeroboam. After this long 
speech was delivered, the two armies engaged in 
battle; and Abijah’s army of four hundred thousand 
men slew of the opposing army five hundred thousand 
men; but we do not learn that one was killed in 
Abijah’s army. The slain in that battle on the side 
of Israel would have covered at least two hundred 
acres of ground if placed close together. I would 
refer the reader to my remarks about these great 
numbers, in a former chapter, where David numbered 
the people. 

After such an unaccountable victory, it might be 
expected a king would be exalted in his own estima¬ 
tion; and we find that Abijah waxed mighty and 
married fourteen wives and begat twenty-two sons and 
sixteen daughters. He died after a short reign of 
three years, having done wonders for so short a reign. 

Abijah was succeeded by Asa, his son, who ascended 
the throne of Judah, B. C. 956. 

Asa, the third king of Judah, unlike his predeces¬ 
sors, adopted the pure religion; and took away the 
altars to the strange gods and the high places; and 
broke down the images and cut down the groves; and 
commanded the people to seek the God of their 
fathers. For this God gave Judah rest for ten years, 
during which time Judah fortified cities throughout 
the land. Asa had an army of five hundred and 
eighty thousand men; all men of valor. This 


THE KINGDOM OF JUDAH. 


147 


immense army was raised in Judah and Benjamin. I 
will again refer the reader to a preceding chapter on 
these impossible numbers. Though such numbers 
seem extravagant in the extreme, they pale before the 
numbers in the Ethiopian army that now came up 
against Judah; for we are told that Zerali, the Ethio¬ 
pian, came out against Judah with an army of a 
thousand thousand, or one million men. Truly, the 
author of such a tale might have done a great favor 
to modern military leaders, by telling how such an 
army was fed and watered while crossing deserts and 
barren tracts of country. But no matter about how 
such an army reached Judah, it came; and Judah 
destroyed it without much apparent loss to Asa’s hosts. 
After the destruction of the invading army, Asa, on 
his return to Jerusalem with the spoils, was met by 
the prophet Azariah, who gave him much encourage¬ 
ment in regard to his future prosperity, provided he 
would follow the true God. But these remarks of the 
prophet to Asa make the history a little mixed; for 
we have already been told that in the first years of 
Asa’s reign, he tore down the altars to the strange 
gods, etc. But now the prophet tells him that Israel, 
for a long time, has been without the true God and 
without law. The prophet encourages the king to 
seek the true God and to lead his people to do the 
same. Asa, when he heard the words of the prophet, 
took courage and put away the idols out of the land 
and renewed the atlar in the temple. Asa assembled 
the people together in the fifteenth year of his reign, 
and they offered sacrifices and made a covenant to put 
every one to death who would not seek the Lord. Asa 
also removed his mother or grandmother from the 
position of queen, because she had an idol in a grove; 
and he cut down the idol and stamped it and burnt it. 
But we are immediately told that the high places, 
however, were not taken down, but Asa was perfect 
before the Lord all his days. We seldom see a more 
mixed and contradictory account in the same amount 
of reading. After the defeat of the Ethiopian and 


148 


THE KINGDOM OF JUDAH. 


the covenant to seek God, Judah had peace for about 
twenty years. But in the thirty-sixth year of the 
reign of Asa, Baasha, king of Israel, attempted to 
build Ramah and make it a fortified place, only a few 
miles from Jerusalem, with the intention of cutting 
off communication between that city and the north. 

It would seem that Israel had recovered rapidly 
since Abijah, only thirty-seven or thirty-eight years 
before, had slaughtered her five hundred thousand 
valiant men, for she now threatened and defied Judah, 
notwithstanding the latter had returned to the 
worship of the true God; and she also drove her to 
the extremity of seeking alliance with the heathen 
king of Syria. At this critical moment, Asa thought 
it best not to depend too much on the god of battles; 
and took the silver and the gold out of the house of 
the Lord, and out of the king’s house and sent them 
to the Syrian king with the request that the latter 
would break his league with the king of Israel and 
help Judah. The Syrian king complied with the 
request of Judah and marched into the northern parts 
of Israel and smote the city of Dan and many other 
cities belonging to the northern tribes. This drew 
the attention of Baasha, king of Israel, from Ramah 
to the northern sections of his kingdom; and Ramah 
was abandoned. This was what Asa expected and he 
appropriated the material collected there by Baasha, 
and used it for building purposes in other places. But 
this way of getting rid of an enemy plunged Asa 
into still greater troubles; for the seer Hanani came 
to him with the word of God, declaring that because 
he had depended on the Syrians instead of on God, 
Asa should have wars henceforward. But notwith¬ 
standing “ Asa was perfect before the Lord all his 
days,” he was wroth with the seer for giving him this 
intelligence, and put him into prison; and at the 
same time, he oppressed some of the people. Some 
two years later, Asa was diseased in his feet and sought 
a physician instead of relying on God; therefore he 
died, having reigned about forty-one years. 


THE KINGDOM OF JUDAH CONTINUED , 140 


CHAPTER XVIII. 


THE KINGDOM OF JUDAH CONTINUED. 

Asa was succeeded by Jeliosliaphat, his son, B. C. 
916. Since the two kingdoms were established they 
had warred with each other the greater part of the 
time; and the new king, knowing this, took measures, 
in the early part of his reign, to strengthen the cities 
throughout his dominions. And he, more than any of 
his predecessors since David, promoted what he con¬ 
sidered to be the pure religion. He took down the 
high places of worship and did much to abolish the 
idolatries of his times. We read that he sent teachers 
among his people, who carried the book of the law 
with them; but if there is no more truth in that 
than in what follows, it is not to be depended on; for 
immediately after we read the account of his pros¬ 
perity and great riches, we are met by the unparal¬ 
leled numbers in his armies. The army of Judah, 
in three divisions, numbered six hundred and eighty 
thousand men of valor, and that of Benjamin, in 
two divisions, numbered three hundred and eighty 
thousand men of valor; making in the combined 
armies of a little petty kingdom the enormous amount 
of one million and sixty thousand armed men. No 
wonder that the little neighboring kingdoms feared, 
for had Assyria and Egypt known that such an army 
existed between them and in little Judah they, too, 
would have trembled at the thought. 

I have estimated, in another place, that Judah did 
not contain more than one thousand square miles of 
land suitable for productive purposes and habitation; 

13* 



150 the KINGDOM OF JUDAH CONTINUED. 


and this being the case the army of Judah would give 
six hundred and eighty able-bodied men to the square 
mile. But such estimates pale before the numbers in 
Benjamin. Benjamin was the smallest of the tribes, 
and the estate of that tribe was small in proportion, 
not exceeding three hundred square miles. Yet we 
are told that the army in Benjamin numbered three 
hundred and eighty thousand men of valor. This 
would give over twelve hundred able-bodied men, 
twenty years old and upwards, to the square mile; 
and estimating, as in the case of Judah, it gives over 
six thousand souls to the square mile to all the 
territory belonging to the tribe of Benjamin. And 
combining the two armies and the two countries, it 
gives over eight hundred soldiers to the square mile 
and over four thousand people, all told, to the same 
amount of land. This, any one can see at a glance, 
would be utterly impossible; therefore the accounts 
of these great armies, in every instance, are utterly 
false. Jehoshaphat is represented in the first part 
of his reign, as being the most perfect of any of the 
kings since David up to his time; but later on in his 
career he seems to have fallen from grace considerably. 
He joined affinity with Ahab, king of Israel, by 
marrying his son to Ahab’s daughter He joined with 
Ahab in his last war with Syria, in which the latter 
lost his life, and then returned to Jerusalem, hastily, 
with more disgrace than honor. 

On returning to his own capital Jehoshaphat was 
met by Jehu, the seer, who rebuked him for having 
taken part with Ahab in the war with Syria, but who, 
at the same time, told him that, nevertheless, there 
was some good found in him, as he had taken away 
the groves out of Judah. But it appears that while 
Jehoshaphat was away from his kingdom the people 
had fallen back into the old ruts of idol worship; 
and the king set to work at once to bring them back 
to the Lord. After this the Ammonites and Moabites 
and others came to war with Judah, and the king 
proclaimed a fast throughout his realm. Judah 


THE KINGDOM OF JUDAH CONTINUED. 151 


gathered themselves together at Jerusalem to ask help 
of God. While the people were thus assembled the 
king stood up in their midst and repeated a part of 
what Solomon said at the dedication of the temple, 
and asked help of God, declaring that he had not 
sufficient force to meet this great company of invaders. 
What a refutation is this of the stories we read about 
his earlier condition in the kingdom, where we are 
told that this same king had at his command, only 
twenty years before, one million and sixty thousand 
soldiers, all armed and men of valor. But now a few r 
petty enemies invade, or threaten to invade his king¬ 
dom, and he fears them and declares he has not 
a sufficient force to repel them. But while they 
were thus assembled the spirit of the Lord came upon 
Jahaziel, who declared that on the morrow this great 
company of invaders would be destroyed without any 
fighting on the part of Judah. 

On hearing this happy message the king and people 
bowed themselves to the ground and worshipped the 
Lord. They arose early in the morning and marched 
toward the enemy in the wilderness to see their great 
deliverance. 

After consulting with the people, Jehoshaphat 
appointed a band of singers to sing before the enemy; 
and when they raised their voices to God, the invading 
forces began to fight one another and kept on fighting 
until they were all destroyed. And when Judah came 
out to look at them, behold they were all dead bodies 
fallen to the ground and not one escaped. 

Then Judah had a rich harvest of spoils, for it took 
them three days to collect the treasures of the fallen 
foe; and they found more than they could carry away. 
Jehoshaphat and the people then returned to Jerusa¬ 
lem rejoicing over the great victory so easily gained. 
How glorious must that king have appeared at the 
head of his rabble army, as he made his triumphal 
march back to Jerusalem, laden with the spoils of 
those he had so feared a few days before and whom he 
dared not meet until assured of his own safety, through 


152 the KINGDOM OF JUDAH CONTINUED. 

their destruction by some other power than that of 
his own army. How brave must his people have felt 
in their homeward march, laden with the treasures 
they had stripped from the dead bodies of an enemy 
already slain for them, but whom they dared not face 
while yet alive. What a degeneracy in Judah since 
twenty years before, when they had in their armies 
one million and sixty thousand men of valor, all 
armed and headed by brave captains. Where were 
they now, that Judah trembled at a few petty enemies 
whom the chosen people of God had “ utterly 
destroyed ” so many times ? But the above story is no 
more contradictory to the details of the first part of 
Jehoshaphat’s reign, than are parts of the account 
that follow to others that precede them. We are told 
that in the first part of Jehoshaphat’s reign, he 
followed in the first ways of David and was perfect 
before the Lord; that he sent teachers throughout the 
land to instruct the people in che law of Moses; and 
that he took down the groves and high places out of 
Judah, that his father had left. But later on, we are 
told that he walked in the ways of Asa his father, 
doing that which was right in the sight of the Lord. 
Howbeit, the high places were not taken away; for 
as yet the people had not prepared their hearts unto 
the God of their fathers. In the latter part of his 
reign Jehoshaphat joined with Ahaziah, king of Israel, 
to make ships to send to Tarshish or to Ophir for gold; 
but Ahaziah, like all the kings of Israel, was very 
wicked, so the Lord broke up the ships that they 
could not go; and the enterprise was a total failure. 
Jehoshaphat died after a reign of twenty-five years, 
leaving the kingdom to Jehoram, his son, about 
B. 0. 892. 

Jehoram, the fifth king of Judah, re-established 
idolatry in his kingdom on the death of his father. 
His most influential wife was Athaliah, daughter of 
Ahab, king of Israel. Jehoshaphat left several sons, 
to all of which he gave fenced cities in Judah, besides 
other rich gifts. But when left master of the 


THE KINGDOM OF JUDAH CONTINUED. 153 


kingdom, Jehoram put to death his brothers, besides 
other princes. On account of Jehoram’s sins, God 
raised up many enemies against him. Edom and 
Libnah successfully revolted and the Philistines and 
Arabians invaded the kingdom, plundering many 
cities, Jerusalem included, and taking the treasures 
from the king’s house, together with the king’s wives 
and all his children, except Jehoahaz his youngest 
son. But this could not be true; for Athaliah, 
daughter of Ahab, still remained and a few years 
later was at the head of the kingdom. We are told 
that God also afflicted Jehoram with a sore disease 
that caused his death in about two years. Altogether 
his was a very unfortunate reign of about eight years 
in duration. It is supposed he was associated on the 
throne for some time with his father, but the suppo¬ 
sition rests on a very slight foundation; but it is very 
evident that his reign of eight years was the time he 
held the throne after his father’s death. We read that 
this king was thirty-two years old when he began to 
reign, and reigned eight years; this would make him 
forty years old at his death, when Ahzaiah his 
youngest son succeeded to the throne, being the sixth 
king of Judah, B. C. 884. 

The different accounts given of this Ahaziah, are 
mixed and contradictory in the extreme. We have 
already seen that Jehoram was forty years old when he 
died, but his youngest son is made king at once, at 
the age of forty-two. This would make the youngest 
of the sons two years older than his father. But in 
Kings we are told that this king was twenty-two years 
old when he began to reign. In both Kings and 
Chronicles, we read that Athaliah the mother of 
Ahaziah, was the daughter of Omri, but we are also 
told in Chronicles that she was the daughter of Ahab, 
king of Israel; and it is evident that that was the 
fact. Ahaziah reigned but one year; for he went to 
Samaria to see his uncle, the king of Israel, and was 
slain by Jehu, whom God had anointed to cut off the 
house of Ahab. When Athaliah, the mother of 


154 THE KINGDOM OF JUDAH CONTINUED. 


Ahaziah, learned that her son was slain, she put to 
death all the seed royal of the house of Judah, save 
one, and usurped the throne. But a sister of the late 
king and wife of the high priest, rescued an infant 
son of Ahaziah from the general slaughter of the 
princes, and secreted him for something more than 
six years; at the end of which time, the high priest 
headed a conspirac} 7 , crowned the young boy king and 
put the usurper Athaliah to death, B. 0. 878, after a 
reign of six years. 

Joash was only seven years old when he succeeded 
to the kingdom; but Jehoiada the high priest was the 
ruler of course, until the young king grew up to 
manhood; and even then he was influenced by his 
benefactor so long as the old man lived. During the 
first part of his reign, the temple which had been 
closed for some years was reopened and repaired, and 
the national religion was for a time re-established. 
We are told that the princes and people rejoiced with 
gladness at the renewal of the temple worship and 
brought in their offerings in great abundance and 
rejoiced at the new order of things. We might 
suppose by this, that the princes and people had been 
deprived for a long time of worshipping God according 
to the dictates of their own consciences; but we are 
compelled to reject the idea, for the people still 
continued to burn incense in high places; and as 
soon as Jehoiada died, the princes persuaded the king 
to return to idol worship. It would seem by this, as 
well as by many other examples, that the only forced 
worship known to Judah, was the temple worship. 

Zachariali, son of the late high priest, tried to bring 
the king and the people back to the temple worship; 
but they would not heed him; and when he delivered 
to them a threatening message that he said he had 
received from God, they stoned him to death. This 
was a great injustice on the part of the king, and a 
poor return for the many favors he had received at 
the hands of Zachariah’s father. But the God of the 
temple worship soon returned evil upon the heads of 


THE KINGDOM OF JUDAH CONTINUED. 155 


the king and his rebellious adherents; for He sent a 
small company of Syrians into Judah, who destroyed 
all the princes from among the people; and a great 
host of the Jews fell into their hands. And they 
carried away to Damascus a great amount of spoils, 
and left the king of Judah with some sore disease. 
A short time after this, while the king was lying sick 
on his bed, two of his servants murdered him; and 
thus passed away Joash after a long reign of forty 
years. On the death of Joash, Amaziah, his son, 
succeeded to the throne, as eighth king of Judah, 
B. C. 838. 

Amaziah slew the servants who murdered his father 
as soon as he was established in the kingdom. He 
then raised an army of three hundred thousand valiant 
men in Judah to go and attack Edom. But not 
thinking that he had sufficient force he hired one 
hundred thousand valiant men from the kingdom of 
Israel, making a force of four hundred thousand men 
to take against a little community south of Judah. 
But Amaziah was met by a man of God who delivered 
to him a rebuking message for having hired the 
hundred thousand men from the sister kingdom. 
The man of God advised the king to send the Israelites 
home; and told him to be valiant and God would 
help him. “ But,” said Amaziah, “ what shall we do 
for the hundred talents that I have paid to the army 
of Israel ? ” The man of God assured the king 
that God was able to give him much more than that, 
therefore the king sent the Israelites home, much to 
their displeasure. The king then continued his 
march, and with his three hundred thousand men he 
slew ten thousand of the inhabitants of Sier, and took 
the other ten thousand that were left alive and took 
them to the top of a rock and cast them down and 
broke them into pieces. This was, certainly, a glorious 
expedition and a brave act for a king and three 
hundred thousand valiant men to perform; and espe¬ 
cially so when the king had God to help him. But 
while this valiant army was doing its glorious deeds 


156 THE KINGDOM OF JUDAH CONTINUED. 


with the people of Bier the hundred thousand Israel¬ 
ites were doing something else. They concluded not 
to go straight home as was expected, but stopped on 
their way and smote three thousand cities in Judah 
and took much spoil. Three thousand cities are a 
good many to be found within a little country; never¬ 
theless that is the number given in the sacred records, 
and it must he correct. 

Notwithstanding Amaziah had been successful in 
his raid on Edom and had seen that their gods were 
not able to protect them, he carried some of their 
idols back with him to' Jerusalem and worshipped 
them, and burnt incense to them instead of to the 
Gods of the prophets. This act brought the indigna¬ 
tion of their own God down upon the head of Amaziah; 
for he was permitted to invite into Judah an enemy 
that brought Judah very low. Amaziah sent a 
message to Joash, king of Israel, to come and meet 
him so that they could look one another in the face. 
This meant war, of course, in those times. Joash 
wanted to decline, and sent word back to the king of 
Judah not to meddle with Israel to his own hurt. 
But the king of Judah was bent on war, for God had 
determined it for the punishment of Judah for wor¬ 
shipping the gods of Edom. Accordingly Joash 
marched with an army into Judah and defeated the 
Jews so that they went to their homes. Amaziah was 
captured and carried to Jerusalem, which city was 
taken and four hundred cubits of its walls broken 
down. The temple and king’s house were despoiled 
of all their treasures and previous things; and the 
Israelites returned to Samaria laden with a great 
amount of booty. 

It appears that Amaziah was allowed to continue in 
his kingdom for some fifteen or twenty years after this 
misfortune; but a rebellion finally broke out in 
Jerusalem and the king fled to Lachish, where he was 
captured and slain; and they carried his body back 
to Jerusalem and buried it there. 

Amaziah was succeeded by his son Azariah, or 
Uzziah, the ninth king of Judah, B. C. 809. Azariah 


THE KINGDOM OF JUDAH CONTINUED. 157 


appears to have been a very war-like prince, and was 
successful against the Philistines, Arabians, Ammon¬ 
ites and other enemies he warred with: but his 
successes are spoken of in a general way, and no details 
are given. He strengthened the defensive works 
about Jerusalem, dug many wells in the deserts, and 
took great interest in husbandry generally. But in 
the latter part of his reign he was too much lifted up 
by his prosperity, and undertook to invade the 
priests 7 prerogatives, for which offense he was punished 
by being made a leper for the remainder of his life. 
Azariah reigned fifty-two years and was succeeded, at 
his death, by Jotham, his son, B. C. 757. 

Jotham. the eleventh king of Judah, seems to have 
had a very prosperous reign of sixteen years. He 
seems to have done considerable building both in 
Jerusalem and in the country. He also was success¬ 
ful in war with the Ammonites and received tribute 
from them for two or three years. “He did that 
which was right in the sight of the Lord, but the 
high places were not taken down; 77 and the people 
still continued to sacrifice and burn incense on for¬ 
bidden grounds. According to Chronicles, all seemed 
to go well, but in Kings we are told that. the_ Lord 
began about this time to send the Syrians and Israel¬ 
ites against Judah, but no details are given. Jotham 
died and was succeeded by Aliaz, his son, the eleventh 
king of Judah, B. C. 741. 

No sooner was Ahaz on the throne of Judah, than 
he began to plunge into every kind of sin and 
transgression known to the Jews. He sacrificed and 
burned incense to the gods of the heathen nations, 
that he set up in every, corner of Jerusalem, in the 
groves and on the hills and under every green tree, 
wherever a spot suited him for a place of worship. Ho 
ransacked the temple from one end to the other, 
tearing to pieces the sacred relics that Solomon had 
placed there with so much care and at such an 
enormous expense, over two centuries before. Ahaz 
even took down the sea that had rested for so many 
15 


158 THE KINGDOM OF JUDAH CONTINUED. 


years on the backs of the brazen oxen and put it 
down on the pavement. He also made his children 
pass through the fire and transgressed in every 
conceivable way and closed up the temple. The 
wickedest king in Israel had never sinned so much as 
this; and such an amount of transgression brought 
down the vengeance of God upon Judah and her king. 
The Edomites, the Philistines, the Israelites and the 
Syrians, attacked and crushed Judah on every side. 
In Chronicles we read that the Syrians attacked 
Judah and smote the people and carried large numbers 
captive to Damascus and also much spoil. Judah was 
also given into the hands of Israel, who slew of Judah 
one hundred and twenty thousand valiant men in one 
day; and besides this, they carried away two hundred 
thousand captives and much spoil to Samaria. But 
this was too much vengeance at one time, even for the 
God of the prophets, and a man of God was sent to 
meet the victorious army outside of Samaria, who 
commanded the Israelites to let the captives return to 
their own country. In the Book of Kings, we read 
that the Syrians and Israelites went and besieged 
Jerusalem, but they could not overcome Ahaz. But 
they captured several other places. In his extreme 
distress, Ahaz took the treasures from the temple and 
from the king’s house and sent them to the king of 
Assyria, with the request that he would help him. In 
Chronicles we read that the Assyrian king came and 
took the treasures, but he distressed Ahaz and helped 
him not. In Kings we read that the Assyrians came 
to the assistance of Ahaz, and took Damascus and 
slew the Syrian king; and at the same time took many 
captives. This was certainly helping Judah, for we 
find that the king of Judah was so much relieved 
that he went to Damascus to meet the Assyrian king; 
and while at Damascus, he took the pattern of an 
altar that he saw there, and sent it to the high priest 
at Jerusalem for him to make one like it by the time 
he returned home. This was accordingly done, and 
Ahaz burnt incense on the new altar when he returned 


THE KINGDOM OF JUDAH CONTINUED. 159 


to Jerusalem. After an unfortunate reign of sixteen 
years, Ahaz died and was succeeded by Hezekiah, liis 
son, the twelfth king of Judah, B. 0. 726. 

Hezekiah, unlike his father, adopted the religion of 
the priests and reorganized that class and reopened 
the temple which had been closed for some years. As 
soon as a sufficient number of priests had sanctified 
themselves and had renovated the temple, the Passover 
was celebrated on a grand scale by the people of 
Judah and a few from among the Israelites. After 
the Passover the people went throughout the land 
and tore down the idols and altars and cut down the 
groves and destroyed everything pertaining to idola¬ 
trous worship. In short it seemed as though a new 
era was about to be inaugurated. In the third year 
of Hezekiah’s reign the king of Assyria besieged 
Samaria, and after three years took it and carried 
Israel away captive. But all seemed to go well in 
Judah for about thirteen years after Hezekiah ascended 
the throne. And as it always appeared that Clod dealt 
with the people according to the merits of the king, 
it would seem that Judah should have been well 
protected during this reign. But we find it was not 
the case; for in the thirteenth year Sennacherib, king 
of Assyria, broke into Judah and besieged and took 
all the fenced cities. Hezekiah sent to the invading 
army, saying he had offended, but was willing to pay 
anything that the Assyrian king might put upon him, 
provided the latter would withdraw from his kingdom. 
The Assyrian named the amount*at three hundred 
talents of silver and thirty talents of gold. Whether 
the full amount was paid or not we cannot tell, but in 
order to meet the demand the king of Judah was 
driven to the alternative of stripping the gold off 
from the doors and the pillars of the temple. But 
some three years later the king of Assyria was back 
again in Judah and sent a great host against Jerusa¬ 
lem to try to make Hezekiah become his tributary; 
but he would not submit to the yoke. But fearing 
the Assyrians would overpower him, he greatly 


160 THE KINGDOM OF JUDAH CONTINUED. 


humbled himself before God, and with the aid of 
Isaiah, the prophet, he prevailed upon God to destroy 
the Assyrian army. And we are told that in one 
night God slew of the Assyrians one hundred and 
eighty-five thousand; and when they arose the next 
morning they were all dead. This is a strange story 
and strangely told, especially so when it informs us 
that although they woke up early in the morning and . 
were dead, the king retreated at once with his army to 
his own country, where, after a short time, he was 
murdered by two of his own sons. 

The account of these invasions by the Assyrians, as 
given in Chronicles, differs some from the account of 
the same in Kings. In the latter we are told that the 
invaders took all the fenced cities in Judah, but in 
the former we read that the king of Assyria encamped 
against them and tried to win them to himself. In 
Kings we are told that Hezekiah paid the invaders a 
large amount of treasures to leave the country, but 
the account in Chronicles implies that he paid them 
nothing. 

After reigning about fourteen years, Hezekiah was 
sick almost to death; but he humbled himself before 
God and his life was lengthened fifteen years. The 
, latter part of his reign seems to have been very pros¬ 
perous and he accumulated vast riches; but it appears 
he committed a great error before he died; for when 
he was visited by some ambassadors from Babylon he 
showed them all his treasures and everything of note 
in his kingdom. Now, it would seem that Hezekiah 
did this with no evil intention whatever; but we are 
told that God withdrew his guiding hand from the 
king at this time, simply to try him, to see whether 
he was wanting or not; and it appears that God found 
him unfaithful to his trust and sent a prophet at once 
to the king to declare to him that Judah was doomed. 
The old prophets were forever acting as eaves-droppers 
in Judah as well as in Israel, and seemed to be very 
much aggrieved if the kings did anything without 
asking their advice. Isaiah was not an exception; 


THE KINGDOM OF JUDAH CONTINUED. 161 

and, in this case, we find him rushing to the king to 
find out what had taken place between the king and 
his visitors. But it appears that he knew without ask¬ 
ing, for he had the word of God in his mouth to deliver 
at once to the king, as soon as he had heard the latter’s 
story. That word was that all that the Babylonians 
had seen should, some day, fall into their hands. Isaiah 
seems to have delivered his declaration to Hezekiah 
with as much satisfaction as some other prophets had 
similar declarations to other kings. But in Heze- 
kiah’s latter time, it required no great foresight or 
prophetic vision to see that Jersualem must, sooner or 
later, fall under the power of the Babylonian empire. 
Damascus and Samaria had already crumbled beneath 
its weight, and many of the inhabitants of those 
cities, as well as of the countries around them, had 
been carried captive to distant parts of the conquering 
empire; and their vacated homes filled by other 
captives taken from other climes. Judah lay on the 
pathway between two great empires and was ravaged 
at will by either; first by the Egyptians and then by 
the Babylonians. The latter was now the dominant 
power in Palestine, and its complete subjugation by 
that power was only a matter of time; and it was 
only the naturally strong position of Jerusalem that 
enabled its inhabitants to defend themselves as long 
as they did. After a reign of twenty-nine years 
Hezekiah died and was succeeded by Manasseh, his 
son, B. 0. 697. 

Manasseh, the thirteenth king of Judah, reigned 
fifty-five years; during the first part of which time 
he re-established idolatry in all its worst forms. He 
closed the temple to the worship of the priests and 
set up idols therein. Persecutions against the ad¬ 
herents to the prophets were carried to extremes and 
the Mosaic laws fell into disuse. To punish all this 
sin and transgression the Lord gave Judah into the 
hands of the Assyrians once more. Manasseh was 
captured, bound and carried to Babylon; but after 
humbling himself before God he was restored to his 
15* 


162 THE KINGDOM OF JUDAH CONTINUED. 

kingdom. After returning to Jerusalem, Manasseh 
tried to make amends for his former transgressions by 
tearing down the places and objects of worship he had 
formerly set up and re-establishing the religion of the 
priests and prophets. But in this, as in all other reigns 
in Judah, it was easier to turn to idolatry than to turn 
from it; and we can hardly suppose that Manasseh 
made much headway in his reforms. However, he 
cleared the temple of idols and repaired the altar of 
the Lord. He also strengthened the fortifications 
about Jerusalem. We learn really but little about 
him for his having reigned so many years. But we 
must suppose that he returned from Babylon as a 
tributary king of that empire and retained his power 
as such the remainder of his life. He was succeeded 
by Amon, his son, B. 0. 642. Amon re-established all 
the forms of idolatry that his father had introduced 
in the early part of his reign; but this prince had 
held the throne two years only when he was murdered 
by a conspiracy, B. C. 640. 




THE KINGDOM OF JUDAH CONCLUDED. 163 


CHAPTER XIX. 


THE KINGDOM OF JUDAH CONCLUDED. 

Amon was succeeded by Josiah, his son, a boy eight 
years old, B. C. 641. In this reign was the culmina¬ 
ting point of temple worship, since a short time, a few 
years at most, after the temple was dedicated, Solomon 
soon poluted the house he had built for the dwelling 
place of the great Jehovah, by erecting other temples 
to other gods under the very shadow of the first, and 
by burning incense at the altars of the many temples 
to heathen gods. High places and idols had been set 
up by more than half the kings of Judah and 
idolatrous worship had been partially observed by 
nearly all of them; and not one in the whole cata¬ 
logue had made a clean sweep of the objects used in 
idolatrous worship, even in Jerusalem, much less 
throughout Judah. 

Hezekiah inaugurated a pretty thorough reforma¬ 
tion, but he was found wanting; and by all that that 
prince tried to do, he accomplished but little beyond 
reorganizing, and providing for, the priestly order; 
for in the following reign, both king and people 
plunged to excess into the worst forms of heathen 
worship, so much cherished in all the preceding ages 
by the Hebrew people. 

Indeed, after Manasseh had been chastised by the 
Assyrians and carried in chains to Babylon, he 
humbled himself before Cod and was rewarded by 
being restored to his kingdom. After returning to 
Jerusalem, Manasseh seems to have tried to undo 



164 THE KINGDOM OF JUDAH CONCLUDED. 


much that he had helped to accomplish in the first 
part of his reign. But his success in undoing appears 
very doubtful, when we find in the next reign idola¬ 
trous worship unabated. 

Josiah mounted the throne of his fathers at the 
early age of eight years; and of course, for a number 
of years his authority was only nominal. This prince 
was evidently under the guardianship of the high 
priest, Hilkiah, and was educated to the temple 
worship, from the death of his father, with the greatest 
care. And we read that this prince began to seek the 
Lord in the eighth year of his reign. In the twelfth 
year of his reign Josiah began to purge Jerusalem, not 
as some of his predecessors had done, but in a manner 
that showed that he was in earnest. He tore down 
every object and means of idolatrous worship, that 
had been set up and still remained, from Solomon’s 
time to his own age. And not only did he purge 
Jerusalem, but Judah and Israel also. He left 
nothing standing that pertained to idol worship. In 
the eighteenth year of his reign, after the kingdom 
had been thus purged, Josiah sent certain of his 
officers to see to the repairing of the temple, which 
was evidently in a dilapidated condition when Josiah 
took charge of the kingdom. While the work of 
cleaning and repairing the temple was in progress, 
Hilkiah, the high priest, “ found a book of the law of 
the Lord given by Moses.” And Hilkiah answered 
and said to Shapiian the scribe, “I have found the 
book of the law in the house of the Lord.” Hilkiah 
delivered the book to the Scribe who read the law to 
the king. On hearing the law read, the king rent his 
clothes, declaring that they were not living according 
to the law; and great was the wrath of God, that was 
poured out upon them on that account. 

These passages reveal to us a secret of the greatest 
interest at our present stage of inquiry. The secret 
disclosed by the above passages seems so much what 
was needed to enravel the mystery about the Mosaic 
law, and so momentous in its signification, that I 


T1IE KINGDOM OF JUDAH CONCLUDED. 165 


must pause in the narrative, and take a look at the 
situation. At our present stage of inquiry, we find 
that the Jewish institutions, in every department, were 
at a very low ebb. The code of laws, which the 
Hebrew writers claim was delivered by Moses, some 
eight hundred years before the reign of Josiah, had 
long been a dead letter in all parts of the two 
kingdoms. And if the Hebrew people had ever lived 
up to the requirements of the so-called Mosaic laws, 
it was only for short intervals, for idolatry was the 
general rule. 

It seems to be implied in both Kings and Chronicles 
that the Hebrews were as well acquainted with letters 
at the beginning of their career, as at the end of their 
national life; but nothing is more evident to me than 
that the body of the Hebrew people knew nothing 
about letters before the captivity, and that no class 
among them used letters, to any extent, earlier than 
the eighth or ninth century before the Christian era. 
If letters had been in general use and the Mosaic code 
had been in book form, why was it not copied and 
circulated among the learned class? You may tell 
me it was, and cite me to the reign of Jehoshaphat, 
where we are told that that king sent teachers through 
his kingdom with the book of the law to instruct his 
subjects. Where do you learn that ? Why in books 
that were written after the kingdom had been 
destroyed by the Babylonians, and no where else, can 
you find it. Will you tell me that, perhaps it was 
against the law to copy it? I will then tell you that 
you have no authority for that, and that the Jews 
transgressed the law at every turn, in a greater degree 
than that. But after the return from captivity, when 
we know that letters were in general use by the Jews, 
copies of the law might be found in every house in 
Palestine. Do you ask, how do I know that the book 
of the law was not copied and read by the Jews before 
they were carried into captivity ? Why that is the 
secret disclosed by Josiah’s words. 

Josiah, king of Judah, had never seen the law; 
Jeremiah the prophet had never seen the law; the 


166 THE KINGDOM OF JUDAH CONCLUDED. 


king’s most learned men had never seen the law; not 
one of the priests up to the eighteenth year of Josiah’s 
reign had ever seen the law; nor did one of the priests 
or prophets know that such a book existed, or ever 
had existed. And I think this is sufficient proof that 
the so-called Mosaic laws had never, before Hilkiah’s 
time, been introduced into the world in book form. 

Whatever laws the Jews were governed by before 
the time of Hilkiah, were traditional and unwritten; 
for on the pretended discovery of the book, all were 
as ignorant as surprised at its contents, from the king 
down. And so at a loss was the king to understand 
the import of the book, that he appointed a number 
of his leading men, headed by Hilkiah, to go and 
inquire of the Lord about the situation of things. 
These men went and laid the case before a prophet¬ 
ess, Huldah by name, who lived in Jerusalem; and she 
at once laid bare the evils that were soon to fall upon 
Jerusalem and Judah. This wise prophetess delivered 
to these eminent men the word of God concerning 
the doomed city; and then delivered to them the word 
of God, which more especially concerned Josiah the 
king. Jerusalem was to fall into the hands of the 
enemy and be destroyed; but Josiah was not to live 
to see the evil. He was to go to his grave in peace, 
on account of his pure life and upright reign. 

We may here ask, what was this book of the law? 
was it the book of Dueteronomy, or the whole of the 
Pentateuch ? More likely it was a compilation of 
traditional laws, that was afterwards enlarged and the 
contents finally incorporated into the so-called Moasic 
records. 

This view of the book found by Hilkiah, implies 
that the Pentateuch was written at a later day. This 
is claimed by many able writers; and few late scholars 
venture to assert that it w^as produced, in its present 
form, at an earlier date. 

In the Books of Exodus, Joshua, Samuel and in the 
first parts of Kings and Chronicles, we have read 
glowing accounts about the ark and its contents; but 


THE KINGDOM OF JUDAH CONCLUDED. 167 


for generations preceding JosialTs reign, we have 
scarcely seen it noticed. Where has the old relic been 
so long ? The temple has been abandoned time after 
time by its own people for long intervals; the Egyp¬ 
tians and the Assyrians have entered its sacred 
precincts time and again and ransacked its apart¬ 
ments at will; and if the old chest has escaped the 
ruthless hand of the soldier so many times, it must 
have crumbled to pieces from neglect and exposure 
through so many centuries. But we find we are 
mistaken; it turns up once more in Josiah’s reign; 
for the king tells the Levites to place the sacred relic 
in the temple, and relieve their shoulders from the 
burden. This is the last we learn about the ark in 
sacred history. It was an object that could be known 
to legend and tradition far better than to history. 

The priests and Levites in Judah were probably as 
useless and dependent a class as ever lived. When the 
temple worship flourished they lived on the fat of the 
land—on the hard earnings of industrious men. When 
the temple worship was closed and the people returned 
to idolatry, the rations of that useless class were cut 
short accordingly. Therefore it was to the interest of 
the priests and Levites to keep up temple worship all 
they could. But the Levites and even the priests were 
not very scrupulous how or where they performed 
their sacred work; for we find that they could adopt 
themselves to nearly any circumstances or gods, 
provided they got pay for so doing. For many gene¬ 
rations preceding Josiah’s reign, the temple worship 
had been greatly interrupted, neglected or abolished 
at times altogether; and there is no doubt the priests 
often went hungry; and no one could blame them for 
trying to better their condition. A seeming opportu¬ 
nity presented itself when the boy, Josiah, was lifted 
to the throne. The boy was too young to do anything 
about ruling for some years, and during his youth, 
Hilkiah, the high priest, would act as king, and 
probably took care to train the child to the temple 
worship and to favor the priestly order. Although 


168 THE KINGDOM OF JUDAH CONCLUDED, 


the preceding king had given free reins to idolatry, 
Josiah was too young at his father’s death to realize 
the situation; and the young mind of the boy-king 
could be moulded, with proper care, to adopt the 
temple worship. Hilkiah evidently took care to bend 
the twig in the way he wished it to grow and, at the 
same time, compiled and enlarged the code of tradi¬ 
tional laws that had been known to, and had governed 
the conduct of, the temple worshippers; the same that 
an unwritten constitution is known to and governs the 
conduct of the law-makers of a country. And it is 
evident that the book contained much that was 
entirely new to the king and his most learned officers. 
When the proper time came, Hilkiah sent the book to 
the king, and he and his learned men were surprised 
at its contents. The prophetess, Huldah, seemed to 
be less surprised about the book than others and 
delivered the word of God concerning it to the king’s 
officers at once; but I should as soon believe that the 
witch of Endor raised Samuel from the grave in 
former times, as to believe that Huldah could deliver 
to them the word of God. Why did the high priest 
have to go to a prophetess to find out what God said 
about the book? They had a prescribed way of 
communicating with God, and if Hilkiah had been as 
good a priest as he should have been to properly fill 
his exalted office, he might have put on his ephod and 
found out the secret for himself. It may be claimed 
that Hilkiah was too good a man to play so much 
deception as is implied above; but if there were any 
truth in Jeremiah as a man even, the whole batch of 
priests and prophets from beginning to end, with a 
very few exceptions, were liars and deceivers and the 
word of God was not in their mouths. 

When the king’s officers returned with their message 
from Huldah, the king called the priests and the 
Levites and the people together, and caused the law of 
the book to be read before them. The king and the 
people then made a covenant to live according to the 
law contained in the book. The temple was then put 


THE KINGDOM OK JED All CONCLUDED. 169 


in order, and the priests and Levites reorganized in 
accordance with the teachings of the book. When all 
objects of idolatry had been destroyed and all proper 
provisions made, a Passover was kept that surpassed 
anything of the kind since the days of Samuel. This 
Passover was kept in the eighteenth year of Josiah’s 
reign. 

We learn but little about the rest of the acts of 
Josiah, except that his reign was prosperous, and 
both he and his people lived up to the covenant they 
made, to the end of his life. But despite his firmness, 
and the purity in his walks through life and the 
promise God made him through Huldah, the prophet¬ 
ess, that he should go down to his grave in peace, he 
was slain by the Egyptians in battle, when he went 
out to intercept their march to the Euphrates. 

Here we find a curious case: not one fault had been 

found in Josiah during his reign of thirty-one years; 

he had never transgressed—never offended God. For 

his purity and uprightness as a king, he had been 

promised that he should go to his grave in peace. 

While such was the state of affairs in Judah, a heathen 

king invaded the kingdom with a large army from a 

country where the one great God idea was no more 

adhered to or known than it was in anv other of the 

%> 

Gentile countries at the time; yet this king now 
warns Josiah not to meddle with God who is with 
him, lest God destroy him; for God has commanded 
him to make haste to meet the enemy. But Josiah 
had no means of knowing what Necho’s intentions 
were, and the idea that God had left his chosen people, 
and was now on a march with the Egyptians, must 
have seemed odd to the king of Judah; and he 
simply did not believe it. Therefore Josiah engaged 
the Egyptian army in the valley of Megiddo and 
was slain, as the king of Egypt had hinted he would 
be. And thus died Judah’s best king. 

Josiah was succeeded by Jehoiahaz, his son, the 
fifteenth king of Judah, about B. 0. 609. This prince 
had reigned but three months when Necho, king of 
16 


170 the KINGDOM OF JUDAH CONCLUDED. 


Egypt, removed him and placed Jehoiakim, his brother, 
on the throne, which he held as tributary to Egypt 
for some four years. But when the Babylonians de¬ 
feated Necho at Charchemish, by the Euphrates, and 
conquered all the country from that river to the 
borders of Egypt, Jehoiakim submitted to the Babylo¬ 
nian yoke for a few years and then rebelled. This 
rebellion brought Nebuchadnezzar to Jerusalem, which 
was taken. Jehoiakim was bound to be taken to 
Babylon, (but was probably slain at Jerusalem) and 
a great quantity of the vessels from the temple was 
carried to Babylon. This took place B. C. 599. 

Nebuchadnezzar then placed upon the throne of 
Judah Jehoiachin, son of the deposed king. In 
Kings we read that this prince was eighteen years old 
when he mounted the throne ; but in Chronicles we 
read that he was only eight years old at the time. 
But as we are told in Kings about his wives being 
carried captive to Babylon, and that his short reign 
was a wicked one, he must have been more than eight 
years old at the time. Jehoiachin proved rebellious to 
the king of Babylon, which brought the forces of that 
empire once more against the holy city. Nebuchad¬ 
nezzar besieged Jerusalem and took it and carried 
away the king and some thousands of the foremost of 
the people captives to Babylon. At this time the 
Babylonians carried away all the treasures and vessels 
remaining in the temple and in the king’s house. 
Among the vessels remaining in the temple up to that 
time are mentioned vessels of gold made by Solomon; 
but when we look back and see the Egyptians, Assyri¬ 
ans and Babylonians, in turn, entering and ransacking 
the temple time and again, we can hardly believe that 
Nebuchadnezzar found any vessels of gold in it that 
Solomon placed there. When the Babylonians marched 
from the city of priests and prophets it must have 
looked strange, indeed; prince, prophet, priest and 
the rich, the opulent and the artisan were the thou¬ 
sands that made up that company of captives now on 
the march for distant climes, never to return to their 


THE KINGDOM OF JUDAH CONCLUDED. 171 

own. But while it must have been terrible to the 
captives it was not so bad for those left behind, the 
poorer sort of people. These poorer sort of people 
were now placed in the homes of their former masters, 
and might have fared well, simply by refraining from 
rebellion against the conqueror. 

Nebuchadnezzar showed a good spirit toward the 
Jews, by trying them once more as a tributary king¬ 
dom. He left the city mostly undestroyed and raised 
another prince to the throne of his fathers. In Chron¬ 
icles we are told that the dethroned prince was 
succeeded by his brother Zedekiah, but in Kings we 
are told that Zedekiah was uncle to Jehoiachin, and 
this is most likely correct. 

Zedekiah, uncle to Jehoiachin, and third son of 
Josiah, the fifteenth king of Judah, was raised to the 
throne of his fathers, B. C. 599. This prince was the 
nineteenth and last that sat on the throne of Judah. 
After witnessing the misfortunes of the last three pre¬ 
ceding kings, two of them his brothers and the other 
his nephew, he might have been expected to turn aside 
from their example and refrain from participating in 
the same destructive evils. But the kings of Judah, 
like the kings of Israel, never seemed to learn any¬ 
thing by chastisements, but went headlong into 
destruction, when a little prudence might have saved 
them. When Zedekiah was raised to the throne he 
was unhampered by aught except to be faithful to his 
promise to the king of Babylon and pay the yearly 
tribute to that monarch. By observing these two 
things he might have re-established the kingdom and 
held it in security. The princes and leading men of 
the nation had all been carried away captive, and had 
-Zedekiah been the man for the place, he might have 
established a new and better order of things. It 
appears that the city was soon filled again with priests, 
the curse of any country when they are in the ascend¬ 
ancy of power. Both priests and people turned aside 
from the law, and plunged into all the abominations of 
the heathen. Jeremiah and his fellow-prophets tried 


172 THE KINGDOM OF JUDAH CONCLUDED. 


to hold the nation to the temple worship; but king, 
priest and people mocked the prophets and rushed 
wildly into idolatry. How long Judah kept up her 
tribute to the king of Babylon, we are not informed; 
but after a few years she probably allied herself with 
Egypt and defied the Babylonian power. Great addi¬ 
tions must have been made to the defensive works 
around Jerusalem in Zedekiah’s reign; for when 
Nebuchadnezzar finally besieged the city, it held out 
against his forces for some two years, and then suc¬ 
cumbed only by famine. 

We are told that God sent the Babylonians against 
the Jews on account of their sins, but the Babylo¬ 
nians would have gone against them, had they been as 
pure as angels. After the city had been besieged 
nearly two years, food was exhausted, and the king 
and the men of war fled from the city by night, and 
scattered over the country, every man for himself. 
The king was captured near Jericho, taken before 
Nebuchadnezzar at Riblah, and judgment was passed 
upon him. Zedekiah’s sons were slain before him, 
his own eyes were put out, and he was carried to 
Babylon in chains. Thus ended the kingdom of 
Judah after an existence of three hundred and eighty- 
nine years, from B. 0. 975 to B. C. 586. 

After the fall of Jerusalem, a few of the leading 
men in the kingdom were put to death and many 
others were carried to Babylon. The walls of the 
city were torn down, the temple and the king’s palaces 
were burned, as were all the principal houses in the 
city. All the treasures in and out of the temple, that 
could be found, were carried to Babylon and the city 
of priests and prophets was left in utter ruins. 

Never was there a greater contrast between two . 
pictures presented to us in history, than that we find 
in the annals of the last five kings of Judah. The 
first picture presents to us Josiah, a king of firm 
integrity, of parity of purpose, and upright in all his 
walks as a man and ruler, for an uninterrupted reign 
of thirty-one years. The second picture presents to 
ps four succeeding kings, three of whom were sons 


THE KINGDOM OF JUDAH CONCLUDED . 173 

and the other a grandson of Josiah, the purest of the 
kings of Judah. But notwithstanding the upright 
example of their father, these four kings, whose 
combined reigns lasted but twenty-four or twenty-five 
years, plunged into all the transgressions known to 
the Jews, and each in turn rebelled against the empire 
that held Judah under tribute and was able to crush 
her,whenever that power determined so to do. Why 
these three sons and one grandson should so recklessly 
turn aside from the example of their father, can be 
accounted for only by the swarms of the corrupt 
priests and prophets, who no longer had any faith in 
their traditional religion, but by their undue influence 
were determined to rule or ruin their country. But 
the last four kings of Judah had no incentive to lead 
them on in the steps of their father; for while the 
three sons of Josiah were quite young, and the 
grandson yet unborn, the word was declared through 
Huldah the prophetess, that Jerusalem was doomed; 
and that all the evils spoken of in the lately discovered 
book, should fall upon the city in the days of Josiah’s 
sons. No proviso was in the declaration; it was 
emphatic; the city should fall on account of sins 
already committed. The evil was not to come in 
Josiah’s life, because his walks were upright before 
God, but it should come in the days of his sons. 
The father had the emphatic promise of going to his 
grave in peace; the sons had the emphatic declaration 
before them, that Jerusalem should be destroyed in 
their days. But notwithstanding the promise to the 
father, the sons saw him brought to the grave by the 
sword; and this was the only thing that could give 
them any hope that Huldah’s declaration concerning 
the doom of the city might not be correct. But it is 
evident that Josiah’s sons tried to defend their king¬ 
dom the same that other kings tried to defend theirs; 
but all such petty kingdoms as Judah, within reach 
of the Babylonians, had to succumb to that power, 
whether the rulers did or did not obey the voice of 
the priests and the prophets. 

16* 


174 CAPTIVITY AND RETURN TO JERUSALEM. 


CHAPTER XX. 


THE CAPTIVITY AND RETURM TO JERUSALEM. 

In the foregoing pages, I have endeavored to give 
a correct account of the Hebrew people so far as that 
account has been taken from the Bible. And 
although the history of their career is condensed into 
a few pages, nothing of any account is omitted, except 
in regard to their laws and ceremonies. 

When I began to write the foregoing pages, I 
intended to close with the account of the destruction 
of Jerusalem, and the final carrying away of Judah 
into captivity. But I now feel that I must give some 
account of the captives in their new homes, and of 
the return to Jerusalem. 

I was taught in my early childhood, that the Jews 
were carried into captivity root and branch, by Nebu¬ 
chadnezzar ; and after they had been kept in some far 
off country for a certain length of time, they were all 
returned to their own land. I find this to be the view 
that many still have of the captivity. 

The Hebrew people separated into two kingdoms on 
the death of Solomon; and from that time the two 
kingdoms warred with each other as much as with 
neighboring- kingdoms. Israel lying between Judah 
and the Assyrian empire, felt the attacks of the latter 
power before the sister kingdom did to any extent. 
She finally fell under the power of the Assyrians B. 
C. 721. At which time, the kingdom of Israel came 
to an end; and the foremost of the people were carried 
away captive, aijd placed in different parts of the 
Assyrian empire. Judah maintained a precarious 



CAPTIVITY AND RETURN TO JERUSALEM. 175 


existence for about one hundred and thirty-five years 
later; but within that time, Jerusalem was taken by 
the Babylonians, who had become successors to the 
Assyrians and some ten thousand of the foremost of 
the people were carried away captive to Babylonia. 
About eleven years later the kingdom came to an end; 
at which time, the people of Jerusalem, who had 
escaped the famine and the sword, were mostly carried 
captive to Babylon. But these captives must have 
been mostly women and children, for the army escaped 
in the night and took refuge in the neighboring 
countries. The king and his sons were overtaken 
and captured near Jericho, and were taken to judg¬ 
ment before Nebuchadnezzar at Riblah. After a few 
months, the principal officers of the late king, and 
some sixty men found in the city, were put to death. 
The captives taken at this time could not exceed fifty 
thousand, for the poorer classes were left to till the 
soil. Therefore I think it is fair to conclude that the 
captivity of Judah meant nothing more than that 
some sixty or seventy thousand of the Jews, all told, 
were carried away from Jerusalem by the conquerors, 
just as the same conquerors carried away like numbers 
from other conquered kingdoms to their own. It was 
a policy of the Babylonians, as also of the Assyrians 
before them, to remove a part of the conquered people 
from their own country to distant climes, and then 
re-populate the homes made vacant, by strangers from 
distant parts. In this way the power became neutral¬ 
ized in the conquered provinces and was less likely to 
rebel. This rule held good in Israel and Judah as in 
other conquered kingdoms. Had the Hebrew people 
all been carried away at one time, and kept in captiv¬ 
ity for the length of time that Jeremiah prophesied 
they would be, and then returned to their own country 
as an independent people, it might have been claimed 
that some of the prophets were far-seeing men. But 
the prophesies are irreconcilably at variance with the 
later history of that people. The Hebrew people 
sinned as much under judges as they did under kings, 


176 CAPTIVITY AND RETURN TO JERUSALEM. 

but no prophet ventured to say that they would be 
carried away captive on that account; nor did any of 
the prophets hint at such a thing until they saw the 
Assyrians in their irresistable power encroaching upon 
the neighboring countries and carrying away,~in every 
instance, a part of the inhabitants captive. It 
required no more prophetic foresight to see that 
Israel and Judah must sooner or later succumb to the 
Assyrian power, than it did in later times, to see that 
Judea must submit to the Komans. But the Hebrew 
writers tell us that they were carried away captive on 
account of their sins; aud the servitude under the 
Babylonians was a means to turn their hearts again to 
God. But judging from the account of the first 
company that returned to Jerusalem, they soon fell 
into their old ruts of sin. Jeremiah prophesied that 
his countrymen would remain in captivity seventy 
years; but this was not correct, for the first captives 
that were carried to Babylon, were taken after the 
capture of Jerusalem in the reign of Jehoiachin B.C. 
597. But the final captivity took place after the 
destruction of Jerusalem B. C. 586. The return from 
captivity took place in the first year of Cyrus after he 
captured Babylon. Dating the captivity from the 
time that the first captives were carried from Jerusa¬ 
lem, we find that only fifty-nine years intervened 
between that date and the return; but dating it from 
the destruction of Jerusalem (which would be most 
proper) we find that the captivity lasted but forty- 
eight years. In either case, the prophecy was a failure. 

Some Christian writers claim that the captivity 
began in the year B. C. 607 and ended in B. C. 536. 
Such a reckoning would make Jeremiah’s predictions 
come true; but there is no foundation for such calcu¬ 
lations whatever. Jehoiakim was not rased to the 
throne till the year B. C. 609, and he held the throne 
tributary to the king of Egypt for four years. The 
Babylonians then conquered all the territory lying 
between the Euphrates and the borders of Egypt, the 
kingdom of Judah included. Jenoiakim, at this time, 


CAPTI VITY AND RETURN TO JER USALEM. 177 


simply changed masters, and paid tribute to the king 
of Babylon for three years. Jehoiakim then rebelled 
and refused to pay tribute longer to the Babylonian 
king. Four years later Nebuchadnezzar went up 
against Jerusalem, bound the king (who was probably 
slain), and carried some of the vessels from the 
temple to Babylon. This took place in B. C. 598 or 
597. Whether any captives were carried to Babylon 
at this time or not, we are uninformed; but in the 
year last named, and only three months later than the 
overthrow of Jehoiakim, the foremost of the people of 
Jerusalem were carried away captive. Therefore it is 
plain that the captivity at longest, did not extend 
beyond fifty-nine years. The condition of the Jews 
while in captivity could not have been oppressive, for 
it appears that they were allowed as much freedom as 
the Babylonians, among whom they lived ; and if the 
Book of Daniel is of any authority, we must conclude 
that the captives were the almost rulers of the empire; 
for Daniel makes out,himself to be the wisest man in 
the kingdom, both under the Babylonians and Per¬ 
sians; and during the reign of Darius or Cyrus he 
was first in power after the king. And it appears 
evident that when Cyrus offered the Jews freedom to 
return to their native country only a few of them 
were inclined to go. Even Daniel remained in Persia, 
prefering to remain there to interpret dreams and see 
visions rather than to return to Jerusalem with his 
countrymen to aid with his wise counsels in rebuild¬ 
ing the city. While in captivity the Jews seem to 
have been much wiser and better than they ever had 
been before, or ever were afterwards. But we must 
suppose that the wise and virtuous few were the excep¬ 
tions, while the masses cultivated a mixed religion as 
they were wont to do in their own country. Under 
the last king of Judah, whose reign lasted eleven years, 
the Jews plunged into idolatry and sin to the greatest 
extent, although they had seen thousands of their 
own countrymen carried away captive for committing 
like crimes. They still had swarms of prophets and 


178 CAPTIVITY AND RETURN TO JERUSALEM. 


priests among them, but these were continually fight¬ 
ing one against another, and each claimed that he had 
the word of God, and those opposed to him were liars. 
Jeremiah claimed that he alone had the word of God, 
and denounced in bitterest terms the whole company 
of priests and prophets in the kingdom. And although 
this was the degraded condition of the Jews in the 
last years of the kingdom, we soon find them in 
captivity so pure and so firm in the worship of the 
great Jehovah, that lions dare not injure them, and 
the hottest furnace cannot even scorch their clothing. 
It is a pity that a few Daniels and companions of 
Daniels had not been developed among the kings’ 
sons while in Judah; their counsels might have been 
of inestimable value in the councils of their own 
nation. But we learn of no act of Daniel in the time 
of Babylonian or Persian rule that averted an evil, or 
laid the foundation of any wise measure in either 
empire, except in his coming forward to interpret the 
dreams of some of the kings, thereby saving the heads 
of the astrologers and magicians who had failed so 
to do. 

At that time when the kingdom of Israel was 
destroyed and a part of the people carried away 
captive, Babylon was ruled by an Assyrian dynasty of 
kings; but in the year B. C. 625, Babylon became an 
independent kingdom, and remained such until it was 
conquered by Cyrus in B. C. 538. Therefore we must 
bear in mind that the Israelites were carried into 
captivity by the Assyrians, B. C. 721, but the Jews 
were made captive by the Babylonians in B. C. 586, 
one hundred and thirty-five years later. The Israel¬ 
ites, notwithstanding they comprised ten of the tribes, 
seem to have been lost by intermarriage or otherwise 
among their conquerors, for we learn nothing more 
about them after they \Vere carried away. But with 
the Israelites, ^ with the Jews, the poor people were 
left to till the soil; and they intermarried with the 
strangers that the Assyrians sent into Palestine to 
re-peolpe the country after the wealthier and influen- 


CAPTIVITY AND RETURN TO JER US A LEM. 179 


tial classes had been taken away. Therefore the ten 
tribes of Israel were lost in a mixed people and were 
as much strangers to the Jews after their return from 
captivity as were the surrounding communities. 

When the Jews were first located in Babylonia they 
felt discontented, as any people would be on being 
forcibly carried away from their own country; but the 
prophet Jeremiah, who had been allowed to remain in 
his native land, wrote the captives a letter, advising 
them to preserve peace and to build themselves homes; 
for he said, peace in Babylonia meant peace to them. 
We may conclude that they followed his advice, for 
when Cyrus conquered Babylonia, the greater part of 
the Jews seemed to be so well satisfied with their lot, 
that they did not care to return to their own land. 

It would appear, according to the Jewish writing, 
that God raised up Cyrus for the express purpose of 
overthrowing the Babylonian empire and delivering 
the Jews from captivity; but if the Jews had not been 
held there captive, Cyrus would probably have con¬ 
quered the empire just the same. The Persians held 
to the Zoroastrian religion and believed in one God; 
and when Cyrus conquered Babylonia, and learned 
that the Jews were Monotheists, he naturally sympa¬ 
thized with them, on account of their religion being 
similar to his own; and at once gave them permission 
to return to their own country and rebuild their 
temple to the one God. But the first part of the proc¬ 
lamation of Cyrus to his subjects, in regard to the 
Jews and the temple, is too bombastic to have had its 
origin in a mind like that of Cyrus. In the last of 
Chronicles and first of Ezra it reads thus: “Thus 
saith Cyrus, king of Persia: All the kingdoms of the 
earth hath the Lord God of heaven given me; and he 
hath charged me to build him an house in Jerusalem, 
which is in Judah.” Now, if God did charge Cyrus 
to do such a work, he certainly disobeyed the com¬ 
mand ; for he soon left the city of Babylon to make 
conquests in distant quarters, and paid no attention 
to the building of the Jewish temple; nor did he pro- 


180 CAPTIVITY AND RETURN TO JERUSALEM. 


vide any protection to the Jews who undertook to per¬ 
form the work. Consequently, after the Jews had laid 
the foundation, the work of building the temple was 
stopped by the surrounding enemies, and the building 
was not resumed for more than twenty years, and then 
by the favor of Darius. Furthermore, God had not 
given Cyrus all the kingdoms of the earth, nor a 
quarter of them. Greece, a not far-distant country, 
was at that time increasing in strength daily, and was 
able to chastise the Persians severely half a century 
later; and Rome was already on the stage of action, 
and swallowed up Persian, Greek, Jew and all their 
neighbors within a few centuries following. 

The first colony of the captive Jews returned to 
Jerusalem under the leadership of Zerubbabel, in the 
first year of Cyrus. The colony numbered a little over 
forty-two thousand, besides their servants, making 
about fifty thousand all told. Their horses, mules, 
camels and asses numbered a little over eight thou¬ 
sand. They were liberally supplied with treasures, 
and they also took back with them a great portion of 
the vessels that Nebuchadnezzar had taken away from 
the old temple. They set up the altar and began to 
offer sacrifices in the seventh month after they left 
Babylon. A number of months following were spent 
in collecting material for the building of the temple, 
but the foundation was not laid till the second year of 
their return. However, the progress of the work was 
soon stopped altogether and was not resumed for more 
than fifteen years. 

The people who inhabited Palestine at the time that 
Zerubbabel lead his colony to Jerusalem, were a mix¬ 
ture of the Jews and Israelites, who had been left 
at the time of the captivity, and the surrounding 
tribes, together with the colonists that had been sent 
there from the Assyrian and Babylonian empires by 
the respective conquerors. The different peoples had 
intermarried and adopted a mixed religion—in part 
Jehovistic, in part idolatry. When the captives re¬ 
turned and began to rebuild the temple, these mixed 
people wanted to join with them and make the temple 


CAPTIVITY AND RETURN TO JERUSALEM 181 


a sanctuary common to all. But the returned captives 
utterly refused to allow these people to join with them 
in the work; consequently the surrounding commu¬ 
nities prevented the building from going on until the 
reign of Darius, when a decree from that monarch 
allowed them to complete the temple. 

Although the returned captives, headed by Zerub- 
babel, utterly refused to let the people of Palestine 
join with them in rebuilding the temple, the practice 
of intermarriage soon began, and had gained great 
headway when Ezra went to Jerusalem with an addi¬ 
tional colony of captives about eighty years later. 
Intermarriage at this time was not confined to the 
common people only, but we are told the princes and 
rulers and priests, were foremost in the transgression. 
On learning the state of affairs, Ezra rent his cloths, 
tore hair out of his head and afflicted himself in 
various ways. Then under cover of purifying them¬ 
selves before God, the Jews met together and made a 
covenant to discard their wives that ihev had taken 
from the mixed communities, and abandon both them 
and their children. This was a most ignominious act 
and unworthy a barbarian. About twelve years later 
or about B. 0. 445, a third colony went from Babylon 
to Jerusalem headed by Nehemiah, who was appointed 
governor of Judah and Jerusalem for the space of 
twelve years, by Artaxerxes, king of Persia. This 
king granted Nehemiah permission to go and rebuild 
the walls about Jerusalem; and also granted him 
some material aid by giving him timber from the 
forests, necessary for the work. In the course of 
about five months, Nehemiah reached Jerusalem, and 
forthwith began the work of rebuilding the walls, 
which occupied about two months. It appears that 
the work was done under great difficulties, for they 
were surrounded by enemies; and the workmen are 
represented as having a tool in one hand and a sword 
in the other. But the walls were completed and then 
the Jews were able to defy the petty enemies who had 
tried to hinder them in the work. 

17 


182 CAPTIVITY AND RETURN.TO JERUSALEM. 

It appears that Ezra, who arrived at Jerusalem with 
an additional colony about twelve years before the 
arrival of Nehemiah, had accomplished nothing in 
Jerusalem except in the matter of persuading the 
Jews to purify themselves by deserting their wives and 
children. But intermarriage had not wholly ceased 
when Nehemiah reached Jerusalem; for he speaks of 
a number of cases where he chastised the offenders 
pretty severely; some he smote; some he cursed; and 
some he punished by plucking hair out of their heads. 
His own story betrays the tyrant on a small scale. 

Under Ezra and Nehemiah the exclusiveness of the 
Jews commenced; and thenceforward we find them a 
distinct people; not that they were at that time 
different from their neighboring communities physi¬ 
cally, but they began then to separate themselves from 
the rest of the world on religious principles; and 
they have remained exclusive ever since. Therefore, 
in the modern Jew, we see the only pure type left of 
the people who inhabited ancient Palestine. 


THE PROPHETS. 


183 


CHAPTER XXI. 


THE PROPHETS. 

After following through the more secular part of 
Jewish history, I feel that I cannot close without 
offering a few thoughts in regard to some of the later 
prophets. Of the swarms of prophets and sons of 
prophets that infested the kingdom of Israel and 
Judah during two or three centuries preceding the 
destruction of Jerusalem, I have nothing to say. But 
there were a few who stood high above the rest, and 
who gained a national reputation. 

Concerning Samuel, Elijah and Elisha, I have al¬ 
ready said enough, and shall confine myself in this 
chapter to a review of the prophesies and sayings of 
a few who lived at the time of the fall of their respec¬ 
tive nationalities. But of all the later prophets, not 
one foretold an event chat ever did transpire, that did 
not occur either during his life or in the immediate 
future. But nearly all of them prophesied things 
concerning the future condition of the Hebrews, that 
did not occur in their time; that has never taken 
place; that never will come to pass. 

The three leading points in the predictions of the 
later prophets, beginning with Isaiah, were—first, the 
captivity of the Israelites and the Jews; secondly, the 
destruction of the enemies of the Hebrew people; and 
thirdly, the restoration of the captives from all coun¬ 
tries, and the re-establishment of the Israelites and 
Jews under one king who should sit on the throne of 
David at Jerusalem forever. 



184 


THE PROPHETS. 


The first part of these predictions was partially ful¬ 
filled, inasmuch as portions of the two kingdoms were 
carried away captive. But Isaiah lived to see the 
kingdom of Israel conquered by the Assyrians, and 
her leading families carried away captive; and his 
predictions, as well as the verification of the same, 
were written after the fall of the kingdom, for aught 
we know to the contrary. 

But it required no great foresight, in any part of 
Isaiah’s life, to see that the fall of both Israel and 
Judah, under the power of Babylonia, was only a 
matter of time. And as Jeremiah lived to see Jeru¬ 
salem fall, and to prophesy for some years after that 
event, the above remarks might apply to him also. 

In regard to the punishment and destruction of the 
enemies of the Hebrews, nearly all of these later 
prophets had a good deal to say; but we do not learn 
that the enemies of the Jews suffered more than did 
the Jews themselves. In the thirteenth chapter of 
Isaiah we read of the terrible destruction that was to 
fall upon Babylon; and in the seventeenth chapter, of 
the woe that should befall all the enemies of Israel. 
In the twenty-fifth chapter of Jeremiah we read that 
all the nations of the earth shall drink of the cup of 
woe, and feel the vengeance of God without delay, 
immediately after the predicted seventy years of cap¬ 
tivity shall have passed. Babylon is to be the prin¬ 
cipal sufferer; and Babylonia and Chaldea are to 
become a perpetual desolation from that time forever. 

But the wine cup of fury was not passed around to 
a very large circuit of nations; neither was it so bitter 
as might have been expected. The Philistines, 
Edomites, Moabites, Ammonites, Arabians and scores 
of other little petty communities that had acted like 
wasps, stinging the proud Hebrews here and there, 
whenever opportunity presented itself throughout 
that people’s career, felt none of God’s special fury 
during the time of nor after the captivity of the Jews. 
But all of these petty kingdoms were conquered and 
swallowed up one after another, by the Assyrians and 


THE PROPHETS. 


185 


Babylonians ill turn; and a part of each community 
was probably carried away captive and scattered into 
various parts of the conqueror’s dominions. The rest 
remained in their respective countries, and simply 
submitted to the authority of their new masters. 
Egypt and Assyria had, first one and then the other, 
been masters of these same communities much of the 
time for two centuries preceding Jeremiah’s terrible 
predictions, and the majority of the people at this 
time experienced but little change. Egypt did not 
experience the terrible destruction predicted by the 
prophet; nor did her people suffer the disgrace and 
shame foretold by him. 

Indeed she had to submit for a time to the mastery 
of Nebuchadnezzar, but she soon recovered her inde¬ 
pendence and sustained it until she was conquered by 
the Persians under Cambyses B. C. 525. Egypt then 
became a satrapy of Persia and remained such until 
she regained her independence in B. C. 405. She then 
maintained her freedom for about fifty-nine years, at 
the end of which time she was re-conquered by Persia 
B. C. 346, and remained a province of that empire, 
until it was conquered by Alexander the Great, some 
fifteen years later, when Persia and all her provinces 
had to submit to the Greeks. 

But Babylon was the central point where the 
direful calamities, predicted by the prophets, were to 
fall with most terrible effect; for not only Babylon, 
but Babylonia too, was to become a scene of ruin and 
desolation without delay. In Jeremiah xxv: 12, we 
read, “And it shall come to pass, when seventy years 
are accomplished, that I will punish the king of 
Babylon, and that nation, saith the Lord, for their 
iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans, and will 
make it a perpetual desolation.” 

Now, let us compare known history with the prophe¬ 
sies, and see how they agree. I have already shown 
that the captivity did not last seventy years, notwith¬ 
standing commentators stretch the time at both ends 
to make it count that. 

17 * 


186 


THE PROPHETS. 


Cyrus took Babylon in B. C. 538, but no great 
damage was done to the city; and it remained in a 
flourishing condition all through the Persian rule, 
which lasted over two hundred years. Neither did 
the lands of Babylonia and Chaldea become a desola¬ 
tion as the prophets predicted they would; but, on 
the contrary, they continued to yield the fruits of the 
earth and sustained a prosperous population during 
the whole period of the Persian rule. 

Just two hundred and seven years after Cyrus took 
Babylon her gates were thrown open to Alexander the 
Great, and that conqueror entered the proud old city 
in triumph, to the satisfaction of her inhabitants. 
The Chaldean priestly order had been somewhat 
oppressed under Persian rule, and the* old temples 
had been partially destroyed. But Alexander restored 
the old temples and allowed the priests full liberty to 
practice their ancient religious rites. 

Alexander intended to make Babylon his seat of 
government, but at his death, the new empire was 
broken up, and his principal generals became masters 
of their respective shares; and Babylon became, for a 
time, the capital of a new kingdom. But about 
twenty-five years after the division of the empire 
Selencus removed his seat of government to Selencia, 
a new city on the Tigris, and Babylon went gradually 
to decay. 

Now, admitting that in process of time, after many 
generations had passed away, Babylon was deserted as 
a capital city, and, therefore, her principal support 
withdrawn, it does not follow that God’s vengeance 
rested on that city more than on any other. Cities 
have been built up, have flourished in their glory, and 
afterwards have fallen into decay and ruin, in all ages 
of the world. And supposing “owls” have lived in 
Babylon, “satyrs” danced there and “dragons” dwelt 
there in once pleasant places, they have performed 
just as much in the ruins of many other cities. 

Upon whom, then, did the woes, predicted by the 
prophets, fall ? Certainly not on the generations that 


THE PROPHETS . 


187 


had been offensive to the Jews, for they all passed 
away while Babylon was yet in her glory; and the 
generations that lived while the proud old city was 
going into decay, cared so little for her that they 
prepared another to dwell in; and they felt neither 
shame nor distress at seeing her go into ruins. There¬ 
fore, if the dire calamities were felt at all, they were 
felt by Babylon’s ancient deities, and by the brick and 
slime that had been laid up into such massive piles 
by the offenders of Israel. 

And if that met the reqirements of the prophesies, 
they must needs have been fulfilled. 

Concerning the restoration of the Jews, several of 
the prophets dwelt at considerable length. These 
prophets predicted that an era would come, and that 
cjuickly, when not only the Jews, but also the Israel¬ 
ites, would be restored to Palestine from all countries, 
and would be re-established there as one people, under 
one king; and those whom the Jews had served 
should be servants to the Jews. We read in Isaiah xiv: 
1, 2, “For the Lord will have mercy on Jacob, and 
will yet choose Israel and set them up in their own 
land: and the stranger shall be joined with them, and 
they shall cleave to the house of Jacob. And the 
people shall take them, and bring them to their place; 
and the house of Israel shall possess them in the land 
of the Lord for servants and handmaids; and they 
shall take them captives whose captives they were; 
and they shall rule over their oppressors.” 

But Israel was not restored in accordance with these 
promises; nor did she take captive the Assyrians, nor 
make servants of those whom she had served. There¬ 
fore Isaiah’s predictions concerning the restoration of 
Israel were never fulfilled. 

In Jeremiah xxx: 3, we read, “I will bring again 
the captivity of my people Israel and Judah, saith the 
Lord; and I will cause them to return to the land 
that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it.” 
In the tenth verse of the same chapter we read, “I 
will save thee from afar, and thy seed from the land 


188 


THE PROPHETS. 


of their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and shall 
be in rest, and shall be quiet, and none shall make 
him afraid.” But we do not read of one from the ten 
tribes of Israel returning from captivity; and only a 
part of the two tribes of the kingdom of Judah, to¬ 
gether with a few Levites, ever returned to Palestine. 
Doubtless individual, and even whole families, were 
added to the returned colony, from time to time; but 
nearly all of the Israelites, and the greater part of the 
Jews, remained in the countries of their captivity. 
But those who did return to Palestine were far from 
being at rest and in quiet, for they experienced but 
short intervals from their return to their final fall 
under the Romans, when there was no one to make 
them afraid. Furthermore, they returned from cap¬ 
tivity, not as an independent people, but as a colony 
subject to the Persians. 

In the thirty-first chapter of Jeremiah we read of 
God’s promise to make a new covenant with the house 
of Israel and with the house of Judah, that shall never 
be broken until the ordinances that establish order in 
the universe depart from Him; and until that time 
He will be their God, and they shall be His people. 
Then follows the declaration that God will cast off 
His people Israel, only when the heavens above can 
be measured and the foundations of the earth searched 
out beneath. It is then declared how the material 
city of Jerusalem shall be built, and shall not be 
plucked up, nor thrown down, any more forever. But 
these prophesies were all disproved nearly two thou¬ 
sand years ago. Again, in Jeremiah xxxiii: 7, as also 
in Isaiah i: 26, we read that the captivity of both Israel 
and Judah shall return and be built as at first. But 
no one will claim for a moment that these prophesies 
were ever fulfilled. In the last named chapter of Jere¬ 
miah we read, “In those days and at that time (that 
is, after the return from captivity,) will I cause the 
Branch of righteousness to grow up unto David; and 
he shall execute judgment and righteousness in the 
land.” Theologians say this was a promise of Christ; 


THE PROPHETS. 


189 


but let us read what follows: “ In those days shall 

Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely.” 

Now, no matter what that “Branch” meant, we 
know that Judah was not saved by it; neither did 
Jerusalem dwell safely; for she was in an uproar the 
most of the time, and was destroyed by the Romans in 
about seventy years from the beginning of the Chris¬ 
tian era. 

But again, we find still stronger language in Ezekiel 
xxxvii: 21, 22, 25, 28: “Behold, I will take the 
children of Israel from among the heathen whither 
they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and 
bring them into their own land upon the mountains 
of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all.” 
“And they shall dwell in the land that I have given 
unto Jacob my servant, wherein your fathers have 
dwelt, and they shall dwell therein, even they, and 
their children, and their children’s children forever.” 

In Hosea i: 11, it is declared: “Then shall the 
children of Judah and the children of Israel be 
gathered together, and appoint themselves one head, 
and they shall come up out of the land; for great 
shall be the day of Jezreel.” 

Such passages are numerous throughout the proph¬ 
ets, and all point to the restoration of both Judah and 
Israel to Palestine, where they shall live as one people, 
governed by one king. But such a restoration never 
took place; and those who did return were always 
tributary to some other power, except for a short time 
under the precarious reign of the Maccabee princes. 

In the fifth chapter of Micah we read: “ But thou, 
Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the 
thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come 
forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose 
goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.” 
We are told that the above passage refers to Christ, 
and indicates His birthplace. But if it pointed to 
Christ let me ask, had Christ anything to do with the 
Assyrians, as the following passages declare that this 
man of the prophecy should have to do with them ? 


190 


THE PROPHETS. 


"And this man shall be the peace, when the Assyrian 
shall come into our land: and when he shall tread in 
our palaces, then shall we raise against him seven 
shepherds and eight principal men.” "And they 
shall waste the land of Assyria with the sword, and 
the land of Nimrod in the entrance thereof: thus 
shall he deliver us from the Assyrians, when he 
cometh into our land, and when he treadeth within 
our borders.” 

The above predictions were made a few years after 
the kingdom of Israel had been destroyed by the Assy¬ 
rians and a part of its people carried away captive; 
and the prophet hoped to see a leader rise up in Judah 
that should chastise the Assyrian on his own soil. 
But his hopes were never realized; nor was Judah 
ever in a condition to lay waste any part of Assyria or 
the land of Nimrod. But the Assyrians were driven 
from power more than six hundred years before the 
Christian era, and they had been succeeded by Baby¬ 
lonians, Persians, Greeks and Romans, in turn, before 
that event. Therefore there was no connecting link 
whatever between the prophecy and the birth of 
Christ. 

Whether Daniel was a prophet or not is difficult to 
decide; but he certainly was a great dealer in dreams 
and visions. There are twelve chapters in the Book 
called Daniel, which must have been written at inter¬ 
vals through nearly a century of time. Some of the 
chapters seem to have been written by Daniel, but 
others were evidently written by some other author. 

The first chapter opens with the account, “ In the 
third year of the reign of Jelioiachin, king of Judah, 
Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem, and the Lord 
gave Jehoiachin into his hands. * 

But Jehoiachin was raised to the throne by Necho, 
king of Egypt, and was tributary to Necho for three 
or four years, until the latter was defeated by Nebu¬ 
chadnezzar at the battle of Carchemish at the Eu¬ 
phrates. This battle was fought in B. C. 605, and the 
Babylonians became masters of all the country to the 
borders of Egypt. 


. THE PROPHETS . 


191 


Jehoiachin submitted to the conqueror and became 
tributary to the Babylonians; an account of which 
has already been given. It was at this time that the 
king of Babylon sent to Jerusalem for certain young 
men of the king’s seed, who were required to be with¬ 
out blemish and of great understanding. Daniel and 
three others were sent to Babylon, and they were 
declared to be ten times wiser than all the magicians 
and astrologers that were in the realm. Daniel soon 
became distinguished by revealing to Nebuchadnezzar 
his forgotten dream and the interpretation of the 
same. This he did in the second year of the reign of 
that monarch, or B. C. 602. Daniel and his three 
companions were soon raised to high positions in the 
provinces of Babylonia, and we are told that Daniel 
prospered till the reign of Cyrus. 

It is not necessary to dwell on the career of these 
four Jews, for the account of what they did is familiar 
to every reader. But just sixty years after Daniel 
interpreted Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, we find him 
reading the writing on the wall for Belshazzar. Now 
we cannot reasonably suppose that Daniel was less 
than twenty-five years of age when he first went to 
Babylon, for it appears that he was at that time a very 
wise man, understanding the sciences; and if we add 
*to that sixty-four years, we find him at the age of 
eighty-nine reading the writing on the wall. 

The author of the fifth chapter of Daniel speaks of 
Belshazzar as being a man of mature life, possessing 
many wives and concubines. In the same chapter we 
are told that Belshazzar was slain on the night he saw 
the writing on the wall, and Darius the Median took 
the kingdom. In order to understand the history of 
this event more clearly, we must turn to the annals of 
the Babylonian and Persian monarchies. We have 
now reached real historic periods, and are no longer 
dependent on the uncertainties of Jewish writers. 

In 555 B. C., Nabonadius murdered the grandson of 
Nebuchadnezzar, a mere boy who was then on the 
throne of Babylon, and usurped the kingly powers and 


192 


THE PROPHETS. 


then married a daughter of Nebuchadnezzar. As 
soon as a son by this marriage was of sufficient age, 
he was associated on the throne. This son was 
Belshazzar who could not be more than sixteen years 
of age when Cyrus invaded the kingdom. Nabona* 
dius, otherwise Labynetus, left the defenses of Baby¬ 
lon in charge of his young son, while he met Cyrus 
outside of the city. Labynetus was defeated by Cyrus 
and threw himself into Borsippa, a city a few miles 
from Babylon, but after a short time surrendered to 
the conqueror. After he had defeated Labynetus, 
Cyrus besieged Babylon and took it, the boy-king 
being no match for such a conqueror. 

The sixth chapter of Daniel is evidently a contin¬ 
uation of the fifth, by the same writer. We are told 
that Darius set over his kingdom one hundred and 
twenty princes and over these, three presidents, and 
Daniel was principal of the three. This made Daniel 
the second in authority in the kingdom. This is a 
strange exception to all known history for Daniel, a 
foreigner, to be kept in high authority during the 
reigns of six successive kings, and they of two 
dynasties. But Daniel could be no less than ninety 
years old when Cyrus took Babylon, 538 B. C., and 
that is sufficient proof that sucll a conqueror never 
raised him to the second place of authority in the 
kingdom. But when and by whom were the fifth and 
sixth chapters of the Book of Daniel written ? The 
author tells us that Darius took Babylon; but it is 
well known that Cyrus was the conqueror. It is also 
known that Cyrus did little towards consolidating and 
organizing the empire; and the account, as given in 
the Book of Daniel, of his setting one hundred and 
twenty princes and three presidents over his empire, 
has no foundation whatever. But the author of that 
account evidently lived and wrote after a king by the 
name of Darius reigned; and as it is well known that 
the first king by that name ascended the throne sev¬ 
enteen years ofter Cyrus took Babylon, it is evident 
that the fifth and sixth chapters in question were 


CONCLUSION . 


193 


written after that time. Darius I. consolidated and 
organized his empire and divided it into twenty prov¬ 
inces called Satrapies, and placed a Persian official 
over each, and swept away all the native tributary 
kings. Daniel, if living in the reign of Darius, must 
have been considerably over one hundred years old, 
and that is sufficient proof that he neither ruled in 
the empire nor wrote books at that time. 

Concerning Daniel’s visions and dreams, I have 
nothing to say; they will answer as playthings for 
theologians to dispute about in the future as in the 
past. ' 


C ON CLUSION. 


In the foregoing pages it is readily seen that the 
author does not believe that God had more to do with 
the Hebrew people than with others of corresponding 
periods; but it does not follow that he has less faith 
in the Ruler of the universe than those who kneel at 
the shrine of idolatry and superstition, erected in the 
barbarous past. 

Science, the world’s adjuster, is now spreading her 
wings and carrying glad tidings of truth to every 
land: and ere long her refulgent rays will penetrate 
the clouds of darkness that have so long obscured 
from view the resplendent beauties of God’s harmo¬ 
nious and eternal laws. 


the end.- 






/ 



. 




















































X 







































* 

















































. 













/ ' 
























































..■Ill" "III 





























































































































































































































































































